The Strange Death Of Adolf Hitler 1939

"An Amazing Document of
World-Shaking Importance.

HE STRANGE DEATH
OF ADOL F HITLER ,

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: We predict that the facts disclosed
by this astoundirg book wil develop world interest un-
equalled since Charn'bertoto'f visits to Germany last Fall.

• What is the sensatMHWU ■•. ppressed truth behind the
zig-zag course of German diplomacy since the day
of the Munich F.-<ct;'-

• What was r* t . tin) situation fhat confronted
Chamberlain in the r.sfully darkened rooms at
Munich an ! Gc .Icour And how does this account
for his mystifying hesitations during those hours of
life or death?

• What are the details c f Hitter's threats of suicide?

• How did Julius ^chreck. Hitler's "double" and
chauffeur, meet his death i i 1936?

• What is in back of the si -angely persistent rumors
in London and eUowhere that the real Adolf Hitler

,Sde THE STRANGE DEATH
OF ADOLF HITLER

fires a bombshell whose detonations will be heard
around the world. Its appalling revelations, the inti-
mate details v.,')i ! attest their authenticity, will give
-on th-.' i.iost asttfending reading ever prfhted.

^he Strange "Death
of

cAdolf ^Hitler

cA.nonym.ous

COPYRIGHT, I939,
BY THE MACAC1AY COMPANY

Printed in the United States of America

PUBLISHER'S STATEMENT

On the last Friday in January, 1939, we were presented
with the most unusual manuscript that has come to us in
thirty years of publishing. The unimpeachable sources
from which it emanated were a guarantee of its authen-
ticity. The immense world-importance of the facts stated
in the document gave us no alternative but to present it
to the world without delay. The central and most vital
fact is that Adolf Hitler, the Nazi Fuehrer and dictator,
was assassinated at 2:13 a. m. on September 29, 1938, the
night before the consummation of the Munich Pact; and
that an opportunist double is ruling in his stead.

In view of the importance of this matter, a brief state-
ment of the facts connected with our receipt of the manu-
script is essential. It was handed to us by a German officer
high in the German merchant marine, who had just ar-
rived from the other side, and at once telephoned for an
appointment and called on us. We had known him for a
number of years; and knew that, like so many of his
fellow-officers, he did not approve of Nazi excesses or the
Nazi philosophy, although his position of course depended
upon his concealing this.

"When asked for the particular purpose of this unex-
-pected visit, he stated that he was the bearer of an inter-
national secret of immense importance, which he wished
us to publish, if we thought it wise. This secret, he said,
was the fact that Adolf Hitler was dead, and had been
dead since the night before the Munich Pact was arrived at.

PUBLISHER'S STATEMENT

We brought out the January 14th copy of The New
Yorker from our files, and showed him the two-column
story there on page 66, claiming that Hitler had been
killed in Hamburg in 1935, and that from one to four
doubles were ruling in his place. But we explained that
this was a facetious spoof story, not meant to be believed.

His face grew grave, as he read through the article. The
facts in it were nonsense, he said; but he had the real
facts, and a full statement as long as a book to prove it.
We asked to see the statement. He first secured our
promise never to connect his name with the matter; for
that would mean more than his loss of livelihood; it would
mean at the least disgrace and imprisonment, with a strong
probability of death, the usual punishment for tactless
frankness in Germany today. And then he brought out a
huge grimy manila envelop, which had been hidden inside
his coat, liberally marred with broken red wax seals, and
laid it before us.

He pulled out first a brief note in French, and laid it
before us. It was simple enough to translate:

M. Michel Simon
Compagnie Transatlantique
Nice, France
Dear Unknown Friend:

I am asking you to treasure the enclosed statement, and at the
time of my death make it public to the world.

As to why I have a right to ask this favor of you, you may
ascertain by asking your mother who Maximilian Bauer was, and
whether you do not owe him at least this. 4

Respectfully,

Maximilian Bauer

PUBLISHER'S STATEMENT

We asked him to tell just how the document came into
his possession, which he proceeded to do. This note, he said,
had been outside of the sealed package. On this present
cruise trip they had put up in Monte Carlo, and he had
run up to Nice for the day. Michel Simon was a young
friend in the office of the Compagnie Transatlantique in
Nice. He had dropped in to see him. They had gone to a
cafe together, and then, at Michel's insistence, to the young
Frenchman's rooms, two squares away. There Michel had
told him of receiving this parcel by special courier from
Switzerland the day before. Out of curiosity, after read-
ing the note, Michel had opened it. But it was all in Ger-
man, he pointed out, and he knew no German. Moreover,
his mother had been dead for eleven years. The German
seemed to be something about Adolf Hitler. Could it all
be a joke? Would not his friend the German officer glance
at it, and say whether it should be thrown away, or what?

But by this time the German merchant marine officer
had to catch the bus to return to Monte Carlo and his
ship; and so he said that it was impossible. Michel an-
nounced that he did not want the document; it might
amuse his friend to translate it on the long trip across the
Atlantic, and, the next time they met, tell him what it
was all about. He had never heard of Maximilian Bauer,
he insisted, and he washed his hands of the matter. And
so the German officer bundled up the documents in their
original envelop, and left with them.

The night after leaving Funchal, having nothing to do,
he opened the package and read all night. It was all so
incredibly important that he finished it the next night,
and began to decide what to do with it. The world must
know it now, that was clear; and yet, his own name could

PUBLISHER'S STATEMENT

not be connected with it. He thought of his friendship
with us, and set to work translating it. Already much
more than half of it was completed.

We asked to see the translation. He handed us the
meticulously written version in English, starting with
these words that will soon be so familiar to the world:

My name is Adolf Hitler. By this name the world knows me,
and it knows me by no other name. Since two-thirteen a.m. on
the morning of September 29, 1938, 1 have been the only Adolf
Hitler alive on earth.

We read through the first few pages with growing
amazement, and asked him if, in his opinion, it was au-
thentic.

"There is no possible doubt of it," he said. "No one
but one at the very heart of the Nazi machine could have
known some of the things there put down, that have
never been told to the world, although we in Germany
know them, but not so definitely, or in such detail."

Like all Germans visiting outside of the Reich, he suf-
fered from the government veto of his having money to
spend in foreign ports. We assured him that we would see
that he received the translator's fee, and that there would
be royalties for him later. He was to have eight days in
New York City before being transferred to another ship
on a South American cruise line. He agreed to finish the
translation in a week, and did.

Even while he was working on it, we had the accuracy
of his translation checked, to make sure that the very
idiom of the original had been wholly preserved.

We checked up on two other matters. We looked first
into the matter of Hitler's doubles, and the attempts on his

PUBLISHER'S STATEMENT

life. So accurate and conservative a commentator as John
Gunther, in his standard masterpiece Inside Europe * had
this to say of his major double:

Another member of this company, whose name is unknown,
and who has fancifully been called the highest paid man in Ger-
many — according to the London Daily Telegraph— is Hitler's
double, a man who resembles him so startlingly that he can sub-
stitute for him, if necessary, on public occasions.

An article in The New Yorker, December io, 1938,
described the four official doubles, one of whom even had
a voice like Hitler's,** with the suggestion that there
might be more; and with data about the doubles of Musso-
lini and Stalin as well. The theme of this article was, "Why
doesn't somebody shoot Hitler?" I found that many of
the authorities amplified this data. The facts, then, in
THE STRANGE DEATH OF ADOLF HITLER came
entirely within the range of possibility.

We next checked the utterances given to Hitler, Goring,
Goebbels, von Arnheim, and the other Nazi leaders. "When
we first read them, they seemed to be perversions or carica-
tures of Nazi sayings. We found it hard to believe, for in-
stance, that Hitler had actually said that Germany must
annihilate France; that Nazis seriously said that the Jew
was a parasite instead of a human being; that they called
the Lambeth Walk a Jewish conspiracy; and so on. We
found that all of these attitudes were given accurately in
-this book, and that here we had the first full-length por-
trait of all the major leaders in the movement.

Last of all, we tried to check the facts included. Most of

* 1938 Edition, page n.
*»P. its.

PUBLISHER'S STATEMENT

them are entirely accurate. A few have eluded us. We can
find no official record of the suicide of Ulrica von Arn-
heim. On one occasion, when Hitler is said to have spoken
at Nurnberg, we find authorities who place him in Vienna
on that day; but, again, this may have been intentional
obfuscation by the use of doubles. A few incidents appear
to be slightly out of order, — but these never affect the
framework of the whole. And certainly the hysterical
course of German machinations since the Munich Pact
indicates that something is sorely wrong with the rowdy
Nazi machine there; as if the flywheel had been unex-
pectedly removed, permitting the most eccentric excesses
of conduct, from lesser, more undisciplined minds, lacking
the former internal stabilizer. When the Nazi government
openly adopted its incredible policy of anti-Semitic rapine
in late 1938, when each German was officially invited to
surrender his mistress to productive labor and mother-
hood, when plans for a Pan-Nazi Europe were stressed in
public utterances, it is clear that the voice of shrewd au-
thority is missing. When the lion is away, the jackals go
berserk.

As to the attempts to kill Hitler, the record is fuller.
Most of these have been rigorously minimized or denied in
Germany; yet word leaks out. "We know now rather surely
the facts of the death of his double and chauffeur, Julius
Schreck, in 1936, and certain earlier and later incidents.
The same applies to Hitler's plans, threats, and faculties
for suicide. The only difference is that this statement is
amplified, and for the first time givqs the world more of
the true story.

The book will speak for itself. Since it has become avail-
able, it has world importance enough to cause its immedi-

PUBLISHER'S STATEMENT

ate publication, even if this were not pathetic Herr Bauer's
intention. History has at times known such mysteries in
the past; and in the long run the usual result has been the
reluctant discovery that the strange revelation is the truth,
or an understatement of it. "Whether Hitler is physically
dead and an opportunist double is rubber-stamping in his
name, or whether the death is symbolic but no less real, it
still remains that this amazing document is the most im-
portant book out of Nazi Germany.

The Publishers.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER txam

publisher's STATEMENT 5

I THE FIRST MISTAKE 17

n UNDERSTUDY FOR A DICTATOR 34

in UP A LONELY ROAD 47

IV HOW ODD OF GOD 63

V THE SIGN FROM HEAVEN 79

VI THE VISITOR AT MIDNIGHT 97

Vn THE LONG SHADOW OF ROME 117

Vm HORST WESSEL DAY 128

DC ULRICA VON ARNHEIM 138

X THE UNENDING EMERGENCY 151

XI IN WHICH A BULLET DOES NOT MISS 163

XII A PURGE IS PRESCRIBED 175

Xni SPDLT BLOOD AT WIESSEE 186

XIV THE PURGE IN BERLIN 199

XV "UNTO ME ALL POWER IS GIVEN " 210

XVI THE MOTHERS OF THE RACE 222

XVH THE GERMAN NARCISSUS 234

XVIII THE MATTER OF HERTA FUCHS 252

CONTENTS

CHAFTOa

nam

XIX

I FACE MY OWN PROBLEM

265

XX

THE COBRA STRIKES

276

XXI

THE SEED IS SOWN

291

XXII

THE TIDE FLOWS EAST

303

XXIII

THE FLOOD TIDE RISES

315

XXIV

DEATH IN MUNICH

328

XXV

I AM THE RESURRECTION

340

XXVI

"LITTLE MAN, WHAT NOW?"

351

XXVII

THE SKY GROWS DARKER YET

361

XXVIII

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

372

THE STRANGE DEATH
OF ADOLF HITLER

CHAPTER I

THE FIRST MISTAKE

MY name is Adolf Hitler. By this name the world
knows me, and it knows me by no other name.
Since thirteen minutes past z A.M., on the ghastly morn-
ing of September 29, 1938, I have been the only Adolf
Hitler alive on earth. In view of what sooner or later must
be my next step, I am writing down a bald skeleton of
certain important events in which I was central. Only thus
may I correct the minutes of history before they are
approved through error or ignorance and added to man's
permanently recorded archives, and my colossal secret
buried eternally with me.

I desire the name I was born with to appear on my
tomb. This is through no superstition. Like all true Nazis
and members of the superior German race, I am pagan
through and through. I know well that Herr Gott was a
bogy-man invented by the Judenschweine, to gull the
higher race and its allied nations after death, as they en-
deavor to gull us through life. But // there were a Herr
Gott with his Purge on the Judgment Day, I would not
care to appear before him behind a mask, least of all behind
that ghastly, leprous domino I now wear. To myself, God
be thanked, there is no mask. I will not let the one I must
wear till death bloat me forever before other men, and

17

1 8 THE STRANGE DEATH

before the folkic historians of the future, who should give
credit where credit belongs for the world that Germany
has rebuilt. I desire the name I was born with to appear
on my tomb. I prefer it, with great reason, to the one that
badges me now before men, and will badge me until my
own hand or the hand of another has ended my life.

These facts, then, I will in direct chronological order
set down, as far as I remember their precise sequence, —
that is, the facts of my life since the night of January 29,
1933. What I was before that means nothing to the world.
What it still means to me has nothing to do with this
strange and incredible segment of my life since.

I preface with a brief word of needed explanation,
before I arrive at that night of the first great mistake.

I was born Maximilian Bauer just before sunrise on
Thursday, May 1, 1890, itn wunderschdne Monat Mai, in
Passau, Lower Bavaria. Passau, for all that favorable
officials have not flattered it in the official census figures,
is the most typically folkic or racialist city in this heart of
real Germany, cloven as it then was by the foul machina-
tions of the Slavophile Hapsburgs. Even the house I was
born in looked out on the two halves of a divorced world.
From the eastern window in the second story bedroom
where I began life, you can see off to the left the Danube
where the Inn flows to greaten it, and the heights of the
Bohmerwald ; while below, to the right, it is Austria — that
Waldviertel where Adolf Hitler himself was born.

My father was an apothecary, with a degree from
Munich and his own shop; my mother, his cousin, was only
a governess in the home of the one deputy to the Reichstag
living in Passau. I was the eldest of three children, and my
parents were married just before my sister Theresa was

OF ADOLF HITLER

born, when I was barely three. During my father's last few
years his ill health made him bitter, and I often saw my
mother break into weeping when he taunted her about my
paternity, which became his favorite little joke. He would
boast to her that he made her pregnant first as the only
way to prevent her from marrying a young Austrian
doctor she loved dearly, since he did not wish Austrian
blood to corrupt the Bauer stock; but he would add that
her own actions had made it uncertain which was my real
father. My parents were Catholic communicants, and I
was schooled first by the Brothers. I had one uncle, who
was an importer of drugs and chemicals at Niirnberg, who
had been apprenticed as a youth to a Protestant importer
there, and had become converted. When my father died I
went to live with this uncle, and I attended gymnasium
there. My uncle was as much a success as my father had
been a failure, and he taught me his secret of success. He
repeated it constantly until I learned it: Opportunity
knocks once only at the door, and then it is the time to
open the door. It is the sort of lesson it is wise never to
forget. I have made it my motto, and have followed it.

My father's youngest sister, who had lived with my
uncle Fritz when he was an apprentice, was married now
to a Lutheran pastor with a charge at Basle. When I was
graduated from gymnasium, I shifted to Basle to live with
her, and I attended university there. It was here that I
got my French, Italian and English, and little else except
-a certain disease from the woman I boarded with in my
last year at the University. She seemed very mature to
me, although she was but a few years beyond twenty. She
Was the wife of one of the porters at the university, who
roomed each year four or five of the students. But it was

20

THE STRANGE DEATH

on a visit to her sister in Vienna, she said, that she had
acquired the disease. Then I was told to go and live with
yet another uncle, who held a Government post at
Schwabach, and could appoint me to fill a vacancy as his
clerk. But Basle had been a mere town after Niirnberg,
and I had no desire to stagnate in a village when I had seen
so little of the world. I remembered what my uncle the
importer had said, and listened for opportunity to knock.

It did not keep me a long time waiting. At Geneva a
well-to-do French merchant, Eugene Simon of Simon et
Cie. of Nice, employed me as tutor in German to his sons,
who were summering with their mother here in the Juras.
The work was nothing, and Mme. Clothilde Simon, the
mother of the boys, was very amiable and made my sum-
mer extremely pleasant. In the winter, when they returned
to Nice, I went to live with the family, still as tutor to
the sons, and planned thus to begin my wander-years. In
the next May, Clothilde bore yet another son. I have seen
him once, since. He is handsomer and brighter than his
two brothers, which was to be expected.

In 19 1 3 I was called to the colors. "When war was forced
on the Fatherland, after the absurd Slav assassination of
the Slavophile Austrian heir to the throne at Sarajevo, my
regiment was with the first division that occupied Luxem-
burg as a protective measure. In September, my regiment,
transferred to the west, took up a strategic position along
the Aisne, and after the dash to the sea was the first to
enter Antwerp. "When we learned the details of the fright-
ful atrocities that French and Belgian soldiers were com-
mitting on German prisoners, our troops showed the
greatest restraint to the civilians on this courageous march.
It is in Stekel I have read that it was on this magnificent

OF ADOLF HITLER

21

march that the practice of tying down enemy girls and
women to the bed before enjoying them, first became
popular. According to my observation, there was no such
general custom.

At the capture of Hartsmannsweilerkopf I was wounded
in the groin by shrapnel, and after being hospitaled for
eighteen months, I did thereafter desk duty in the quarter-
master's department. As a true German, I was not a Social
Democrat, and after the disgraceful Armistice and the
revolution which put the Jewish scum on top, I returned to
Basle. After collecting my share of the estate of my uncle
at Nurnberg, I began to repair my fractured life in a world
which had forgotten the imperative need of German leader-
ship.

The demand for German tutors now was very small.
But there were always opportunities for the man ready to
take advantage of them. At Nice, I managed to secure
work as translator for a publisher. During the season I
found an easier livelihood at Monaco, especially in selling
instruction in the more familiar roulette systems to
wealthy Americans unfamiliar with the game and its de-
vices. For this purpose I became Alsatian, as it was more
jympathetic. It was at Monte Carlo during that first spring
that I met the young widow of the last colonel of my first
regiment, Bavarian born like myself, who seemed utterly
m a daze since her husband had been shot down by some
drunken dog of a Spartacist for refusing to surrender his
decorations for a bonfire. She was very grateful for my in-
dignation, and in this state of mind I found it easy to con-
sole her. I let her live with me for seven years.

My new work finally made such a more or less perma-
nent attachment distinctly undesirable. This work included

22

THE STRANGE DEATH

more than a little confidential translation for several minor
governments, work well enough paid, but requiring the
maximum of personal secrecy. I sent Greta back to Munich,
promising to rejoin her within the month. I have never
seen her since, although I have heard that she actually be-
came so poor that she lived with a Jewish industrialist,
who later took her to Berlin when he secured some govern-
ment appointment from the republic. But for me, it was
far wiser to confine my affairs of the heart to more tem-
porary and less entangling relationships.

Of course, after von Hindenburg replaced the Socialist
tailor as president of the Reich, Berlin again became a city
in which a German could hold up his head. Even in spite of
its twilight under the Sozis, it had of course been for half
a century the cultural capital of Europe. Between my in-
termittent confidential assignments, occasionally I traveled
throughout the Fatherland, and once or twice even visited
Berlin, which had become the center of world gaiety, re-
placing effeminate Paris and orgiastic Vienna.

By the devil's own luck, I arrived in Berlin finally just
after noon of Saturday, January 28, 1933, and registered
at the Kaiserhof , using one of the various pseudonyms that
helped conceal my movements when on assignment. I was
a Hamburger, this time: Hummel hummel. ... I was,
of course, not alone. This time it was the exquisite little
wife of the first attache of an embassy at The Hague — we
will put her down as Chiquita, which was my invariable
pet name for her. Her husband had had me as guest in his
home in connection with some work I was doing for his
government, when he was suddenly recalled for a personal
consultation. It would have been childish to miss so ex-
cellent an opportunity. I had not forgotten the tzigana

OF ADOLF HITLER 23

proverb, "Fruit not plucked now in this garden will never
be plucked." Chiquita had always wanted to see Berlin and
the grizzled war hero who had become President, even if
it was said he had become so senile that he bowed to him-
self in the mirror as to one of his staff officers. These were
the least I could promise her. It was not hard to persuade
her to leave her two exquisite little daughters in the care
of the nurse and a sympathetic maid, and to take French
leave for a fortnight with me. One of the things I regret
most about what happened almost at once was that I did
not have even one night of the planned vacation with the
fascinating little senora, so made for amusement. To this
day I still do not know just how she managed to get her
fare paid back to The Hague; although, attractive as she
was in every way, I am sure she encountered no insuper-
able difficulties.

We spent the afternoon at the Tiergarten, and dined in
our suite at the hotel. Leaving her to prepare for the eve-
ning, I decided to go for a stroll along the Reichstagplatz,
before proceeding to enjoy the little holiday further.

As I came out of the hotel and sauntered along, I ob-
served, but not with especial attention, that the street
seemed to be more cluttered than usual with men in
civilian clothes. Sometimes, I have observed, one seems to
be like a central star in a constellation moving in one of the
two great extra-galactic star drifts, with groups of re-
lated stars keeping their same relative positions ahead, to
each side, and behind. As if one were fixed in a certain
position in the movement of a wave, with the drops on all
sides following the same succession of trough and crest and
the intervening progress. It is an amusing fantasy that I
had learned to discourage, since my profession conduced

24 THE STRANGE DEATH

to a constant fear of being shadowed, always so far imagi-
nary in the past. If I had had the wisdom to heed some
remote subtle intuition then, and observe with my usual
acumen, all that followed might never have happened.

I decided to turn my steps toward the Chancellery,
which even the President was occupying while alterations
were being made in his Palais. I sauntered along, aware
again how that faintly annoying fantasy hovered over me:
the murky clusters of men in civilian clothes that seemed
to keep such even distances in front of me, and across the
street, and just behind me. It was like a game of chess in
which every lane slowly narrowed, with each piece threat-
ening constantly to check. This thing had gone far enough,
I thought. I would return to the hotel and thus, by a flank
movement, castle the king.

Smiling at the fancy, I stopped for a moment to stare
up at the huge frowning mass of the Chancellery, which
locked up within itself so much vital to the future of my
clawed land.

It was the last free moment of my life.

The group of three men behind me had caught up with
me at once, and those in front had turned and were re-
turning toward me. From across the street other groups
were converging. Suddenly I felt, pressed from behind
against my ribs, under my left shoulder, that definitive
touch of circular metal that speaks with appalling, unan-
swerable eloquence. "Not a sound," whispered a guttural
voice. "You know what happens if you make the outcry.
Walk straight ahead, as if one of us, to where you will be
led. Otherwise. . . ." He bored more firmly with the pis-
tol into my ribs.

"Why," I began to splutter my indignation — I was not

OF ADOLF HITLER 2j

on confidential assignment in Berlin, but on a pleasure
trip, and thus my conscience was unusually free, "I do not
understand. It is some mistake, no? I am not the man you
wish." For suddenly I understood — I was sure of it. Evi-
dently that suspicious oaf of a husband of Chiquita had
had me followed, and had arranged this unfriendly recep-
tion for me. I could talk my way out of that, I felt sure
of it, and kept wary watch for the opportunity. And then
would I get him!

The voice came colder. "It will be easier to shoot you
here, and thanks to us for it, Corporal. If you are wise,
and want to be alive at dawn, you walk ahead where you
are led."

And still that metal mouth bored into the ribs below
my shoulder, more and more firmly. This was on an open
street in Berlin in 1933. It seemed incredible, for all that I
knew how tense conditions had become, with Briining out
and von Papen in as Chancellor; with von Papen out and
▼on Schleicher in; with Communists and Nazis collogued
and threatening a general strike, arrogant over their traffic
strike which had tied up the capital; with plot and coun-
terplot until senile old Hindenburg himself had barked out
at his Chancellor before witnesses, "Well, General, when
are you going to lead your army against me?" Ach, it was
a mad place to have brought Chiquita to, at this time of
all times.

But I would be more than a fool to resist. If it was her
husband, that I could somehow handle. If it was robbery,
what were a few rentenmarhen to a hole through the
heart? Beyond this I could not think. Once they had taken
me wherever they wanted me, I could explain who I was
and why I was here, and get back to Chiquita before the

i6

THE STRANGE DEATH

infatuated simpleton had worked herself into hysterics
over my unexplained absence.

To my amazement, my captors — there were more than
a dozen of them now — led me around the palace which I
knew was occupied by the Chancellor himself, to the back
and into its courtyard, and down seven steps into a vault-
like chamber opening beneath it. A door opened for them,
into a bald, long room with blinding lights. It had no
furnishings save a long table, several plain wooden chairs,
and an army cot with two blankets piled at one end.

The pistols were out in the hands of each of them now.
"Strip!" commanded the leader.

"Gentlemen, there's some mistake," I began, knowing
that I could appeal to them most sympathetically by telling
them of my desirable companion waiting impatiently for
me in the hotel suite. "If you will just let me explain — "

"Listen, you little Austrian bastard," sneered the leader
of my captors, a huge bull-like brute with the whole lower
right side of his face a hideous red scar, "we were given the
general impression that your corpse would be worth a lot
more than you, alive. Will you strip?"

I opened my mouth to explain, and his hand slapped
against my mouth without restraint. I stiffened back again
and did not topple; one by one I removed my garments.
With lightning fingers they had all my papers out, and one
man fingered swiftly through them. Another group con-
fiscated my watch, penknife, loose coins, lighter, cufflinks
and all my minor valuables, and examined them carefully.
They even ripped open my unopened package of cigarettes,
and methodically ripped down and inspected carefully
each cigarette in the packet. I had no conceivable explana-
tion of what they were looking for.

OF ADOLF HITLER 27

"His papers' are in the name of Emil Haas, of Hamburg,
the name on the hotel register. They seem correct. Is that
your name, swine?"

Ignoring the needlessly embarrassing situation, I drew
on my shorts, buttoned them, and slipped into my under-
shirt. "If you will permit me to explain — "

His heavily shod foot ground my naked toes into the
stone flooring. "Is that your name, swine?"

"But, no!" I hastened to make it clear. "Yet that I can
clear up also — "

"Save your breath!" said the leader. "At least, you've
told the truth this once."

Another captor spoke. "Sewed in his vest are papers
identifying him as Max Scharben of Pilsen."

"False, too?" demanded the leader.

"Ach, yes. In my business — "

" — And here's a note slipped in among his blank checks,
Captain. Look! 'Max — Ten promptly. Adoringly your C
It stinks of perfume."

"False too, of course."

"But, no!" I said, face paler. "The lady is even now at
the hotel waiting for me. If you will give me just one
minute. . . ."

"Yeah, that tallies, too. They said his papers would prob-
ably all be false. For what he is, it is the perfect disguise.
A woman, of all things, in his hotel room — and she came
with him, too. Unless it's a boy dressed up in women's
clothes. Cigarettes, too! Well, Corporal, I'll see you in the
morning, early. His Excellency will hold an early recep-
tion for you."

The continued ill treatment made me desperate. "My
friend, won't you give me some idea — -"

28

THE STRANGE DEATH

"You are caught this time, Adolf, for the last time."
He swung abruptly from me. "Lieutenant, detail four men
to watch him every minute all night, with four guns cov-
ering him. Relief detail at one. I will return at six."

He left, leaving me to curse the damnable stupidity of
these baboons of Berlin secret police. It was all too clear
to me now. Three times before I had been mistaken for this
upstart Austrian agitator who was the head of the dis-
credited Nazis — for so I regarded him then in my appall-
ing ignorance — though never before to the extent of in-
conveniencing my plans.

Now that the burly leader had gone, I felt that it was
time to let the sergeant in charge of the four policemen
remaining, understand more fully what an asinine blunder
had been made. "So I am Adolf Hitler, eh?" I did not hide
the sneer in my voice.

"You weren't man enough to come out with it before,
when the Captain was here."

"Don't be an imbecile! Because I happen to look like
that misbegotten son of an Austrian Jew, am I to blame?"
So I said in my ignorance, for this was commonly charged
in those days, especially among the Sozis. "Me, I am
Bavarian born; and I will tell you my real name, and let
you check up at once — "

"They say he is a fox." The sergeant ignored me, speak-
ing to the man seated beside him. "No. He is an ass. From
you," he turned savagely to me, "not one word more. I
have heard your damned speeches too often, where you
promise the earth and the sun and the moon and the stars
to the gullible fools that listen to you. Hold your tongue,
you, or by God I'll have my men pull it out with a pair of

OF ADOLF HITLER 29

pliers, and I'll slice off the end! And don't think I am
joking, swine!"

Well, there was no gain in arguing with a man who had
ideas like that. I held my tongue through that long ghastly
night. It was of Chiquita I worried most. She would never
believe the fantastic truth, even if I could send a message
to her; women of the Latin races are like that, a smile one
moment, a stiletto the next. She might even now have
arranged somehow to take a late train back to The Hague,
and leave me high and dry and lonely in this detestable
city of police baboons and official imbeciles. Once again I
tried to get them to telephone to her. The Herr Captain
would have taken care of her long ago, I was informed,
as I never would. And there were to be no more words
from me.

I said no more.

They told me finally to lie down on the cot. I drowsed,
I do not know for how long. I roused once when the door
opened and four other policemen came on for the relief.
I did not wake again until the room was full of officers.
They placed me in their midst and marched me out of the
Cell. I did not know until we were in the courtyard that
the sky was gray and that day had already come.

We marched upstairs to a huge room which it was easy
to see was the Chancellor's study. He was surrounded by
half a dozen resplendent aides. I recognized the bald head,
Ae broad pink face, the shrewd twinkling little eyes: His
Excellency Major General Kurt von Schleicher, Chancellor
of the Reich.

They placed me square before him, flanked by guards
with pistols still drawn. "Excellency, here we have him."

3 o THE STRANGE DEATH

"Well, Adolf," he studied my face, with a satisfied
smile, "good morning. This is a rather early call."

"Excellency, you still think I am Adolf Hitler, too?"

He seated himself and beamed smilingly at me. He
tapped on the floor with his right foot. "There may be
something you didn't know. Already I have the Old Man's
permission to lead the Reichswehr into the streets against
your Brownshirts and other Nazi traitors, and ferret you
out of every rat hole in Berlin. But this is easier, no? I
think I board you at the Colombia Haus in protective cus-
tody until death, no? And it is not so healthy there, Adolf,
ach no, and things happen, also?"

I still stared straight at him. "You still think I am Adolf
Hitler, too!"

"You are childish. But naturally! I do not know what
devilment you and ungrateful Franz and the old Silver
Fox planned last night. That Hugenburg is no more than
a swine; you would have found it out, soon enough. But I
got word you were due for this conference. My men saw
you arrive at the station, and watched you register at the
Kaiserhof. It was clever, a lady too, and the afternoon
spent so innocently at the Tiergarten! I was about to have
that room raided, in spite of your lady-friend," he bowed
ironically, "when you yourself saved me the trouble. You
were so obliging as to walk right out in the midst of my
men, and make straight for the palace where Franz von
Papen and the Nationalist were waiting for you. The Aus-
trian demagogue, the Junker spy, the capitalist reaction-
ary: treachery makes strange bedfellows. And now, this
morning audience. You have gone too far." His voice sud-
denly turned cold and harsh. "For reasons of state — "

OF ADOLF HITLER 31

"And I am Adolf Hitler, you still think?" I made the
message peremptory from my brain to his.

He rose from his chair, came around the great desk, and
walked over until he was so close he could touch me. He
stared above my eyes at my hair. "There is a gray streak
licre," he said, his voice very much smaller. "Is this some
trick? "When did this happen?"

"This is no trick. Your police are imbeciles!"

"In God's name, who are you?" His voice was agonized.

"Maximilian Bauer of Basle, born Passau. I would have
told them. But they knew everything. They would not
listen."

"This is some damnable trick! By God, Adolf, I'll—"
There was a peremptory knock on the door of the study.
At once the door was opened, and in strode an austere
plump officer in a Brownshirt uniform, with battle-marred
face set in a massive ball of head. I knew at once it was
Captain Ernst Roehm, Chief of Staff of the Storm Troop-
ers, and the closest associate of this Hitler. I had once
heard the end of one of his speeches, and was not impressed.
I knew, too, he was said to be a boy-lover. What was he
doing in private conference with the Reichskanzler this
early in the morning?

He flung his arm upward and forward in the old Roman
salute. "Heil Hitler!" he shouted. "General, I have the
honor to inform you that at eleven-thirty last evening
President von Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler Chan-
eellor of the Reich, and Franz von Papen Vice-Chancellor.
I regret very much to announce that your dismissal as
Chancellor was announced at the same time. Thanks. Heil
Hitler!" He saluted again, and stood at attention. More

3 2 THE STRANGE DEATH

and more men in brown shirts were filling the room at his
back.

The general stared at him and then turned to stare more
slowly at me. "So!" he said. Slowly his head bowed. He
locked his hands behind his back, and began to walk slowly
around the great study, his lips mumbling. He did not
seem to know he was not alone.

Captain Roehm was staring at me with startled wonder.
"But, in God's name, who is this man?" His voice was curt,
almost frightened.

The burly brute of a Captain in charge of me saluted.
"He was arrested loitering in front of this palace last eve-
ning at ten o'clock. His Excellency was questioning him."

"Himmelherrgottsacrament!" Roehm ripped it out.
"You, who are you?"

"I am Maximilian Bauer, of Basle, born Passau. I
strolled out from the Kaiserhof for a breath of air, and
these men — "

He caught me by both shoulders, and pushed his fingers
into my flesh, shaking me as if to make sure I was real.
"Did no one ever tell you that you are the living image of
Der Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, the savior of Germany, His Ex-
cellency the new Chancellor?"

"I am under arrest," I explained with quiet indignation,
"because these imbeciles took me for this same Herr Hitler.
I was about to be sentenced to Colombia Haus for protec-
tive custody until death, for the same mistake."

"Good," said Roehm. "That is over. You come with me.
Herr Gott in Himmel! . . . Good day, General." He
swung around abruptly, and marched out. I followed,
flanked with guards as before. But they were different
guards this time, and they wore brown shirts.

43P ADOLF HITLER 33

It looked as if my future was to consist of one arrest
after another.
I won found out my mistake.

34

THE STRANGE DEATH

CHAPTER n

UNDERSTUDY FOR A DICTATOR

CAPTAIN ROEHM led me finally to an anteroom of
the Chancellery. He had turned back to look at me
once or twice with curious intentness. Now he appraised
me more slowly, with pleased, satisfied wonder in his eyes.
There was a sly smile on his full strained lips.

I was still uncertain as to my status. "Am I not free,
Captain? The arrest was a mistake. . . ."

"Not quite." He chose his words carefully. "If you will
be so good as to wait here with two of my men. ... I
will return in brief time."

He was back in less than a quarter of an hour, accom-
panied by four men. I could not have noticed everything
about them that first moment that I came to know so well
later. But who they were I knew at once, without being
told. Their faces had grown as familiar to republican Ger-
many as the faces of the Kaiser and the Crown Prince had
been before the war, or Hindenburg and Ludendorff dur-
ing it; and much of Germany was sick at the rowdy
brutality and horror they stood for. This huge moving
hill of fat with the sour killer's face must be Captain Her-
mann Goring, Bavarian like myself, chief butcher of the
movement — he who had in 1923, at the Beer Hall Putsch,
ordered his Brownshirts to crash in the skulls of their op-

CP ADOLF HITLER 3j

ponents with rifle butts. I did not know then that he had
already been named Reichsminister without portfolio, and
Prussian Minister of the Interior, giving him control of
die Prussian police. This sick-eyed little vulture, stumping
in on his club foot, with the hideous, bitter face, must be
Dr. Goebbels, the vindictive little schemer, hated within
the party almost as much as without. This keen-eyed,
portly man with the salt and pepper hair must be the Jun-
ker convert, Erik von Arnheim. The fourth man, with a
thug's face and licking, caressing eyes, I found out later
was General Edmund Heines, the tyrant of Silesia. So dif-
ferent were they, so extreme in so many ways, they looked
like four varied human monstrosities, freaks from a side-
show.

"Gentlemen," said Captain Roehm with a triumphant
gesture, "may I present to you Maximilian Bauer, of Basle,
born Passau. And what do you say now, in God's name?"

They were staring at me as if I were the maddest freak
of all. The great ox who was Goring waddled powerfully
over, grunting his amazement. He rubbed harshly down
•my cheek, he poked me abruptly in the chest, he squeezed
my biceps, he even bent over, belching, to scrutinize my
legs and my shoes. Heines came up more softly and felt me
as fully, but his touches lingered more and almost caressed.
Dr. Goebbels, the sick-eyed little vulture, walked around
me, measuring, appraising; and midway of this a vacant
look blanked out his face, as if already he was off on some
distant, shrewd scheme. Von Arnheim simply stood and
•tared, obviously flabbergasted.

"Ach ja," boomed Goring. "He is all you say. For a mo-
ment, Captain, I thought you must be pulling my leg, and

3 6 THE STRANGE DEATH

it was he himself. Such a fantastic likeness! Any time we
use him, the world will never know the difference!"

"Here," General Heines stroked my hair down further
over my left eye, "we darken it a little, no? Then — per-
fect!"

"I'd swear it was his twin," said Arnheim. "His identi-
cal twin."

Goebbels accepted it more easily. "It is providence. And
we will need him, no! Captain, you have found a treasure."

"Ach, maybe," sniffed Goring, with a disapproving look
that traveled from me to the vindictive party schemer.
"For me, I think it would be far easier to slit his throat. It
is difficult enough to handle one Adolf, with his tempera-
mental tears and his threats to commit suicide, if his way
is not the only way. Treasures are dangers, Doctor, if the
wrong hand gets hold of them. A weapon's use depends on
who has hold of it. You think we need two of him?"

"Ach, act yourself," said Goebbels sharply. "Naturally.
Seat yourself, Herr Bauer. We will ask you a question or
two."

"I have a friend at the Kaiserhof," I protested. "She
doesn't know Berlin at all; I brought her with me. If I
could only be allowed to make sure she is all right, and
understands — "

Goring's eyes widened in Rabelaisian amusement. "Ach,
a woman in his bed! That is much better."

"Now we know." Von Arnheim's eyes twinkled.

Captain Roehm smiled at me from under slightly low-
ered eyelashes. It was obvious that he was trying to woo
me, and not to antagonize me. "My dear friend, that can
be forgotten, until you have heard us speak. Ml will be
forgotten, when you have heard us to the end."

OF ADOLF HITLER 37

Goebbels raised a slight imperative hand. "We have
work for you, Herr Bauer. Difficult work. Interesting and
dangerous work. Yet it will be paid for in proportion to its
difficult nature. You are free to accept it?"

I did not like his face or anything about him. I looked
at Captain Goring, and liked him no more. Heines I could
dismiss with no more than a faint sense of repugnance.
Von Arnheim I liked: the kind of man I would be glad
to take orders from. And Captain Roehm I had liked from
the start. Yet this work evidently concerned all of them,
for they stared at me now as if they were five hungry hens,
and I a particularly fat and juicy worm each wished to
enjoy for his own purposes. I smiled back at Roehm. "Well,
Captain, I am not without work now. How long will this
assignment of yours continue?" My mind was racing
ahead. They were all Nazis, that I knew, — clearly not quite
so discredited now, since they had been admitted into a
coalition government. It would be party work, perhaps
translation.

"Until you die." Goring stared at me with sinister satis-
faction.

" — Of old age," Goebbels amended swiftly. "It is a
career for you, a well-paid career for you. It will be of in-
calculable service for the Party, for the Fatherland. We
will arrange the terms later; but practically you can name
your price. You are interested, no?"

- "But any man would be, Herr Doktor. And this work
-—just what is it?"

^*He will accept," said Goring heavily, "or I'll have his
throat slit myself. But do it your own way, Goebbels."
"It will be necessary, first, for us to ask you a few ques-

3 8 THE STRANGE DEATH

tions." He had a notebook out, and jotted down each an-
swer as I spoke.

I was questioned altogether for almost two hours. The
five of them, but chiefly Goebbels, extracted from me my
whole history, as remorselessly as if I were a clinic patient
commencing a psychoanalysis. Before they had finished, I
was spiritually stripped before them — the last detail of
my life pitilessly bared, my aliases, my confidential work
for the lesser foreign powers, my occasional affairs, even
down to Chiquita still waiting, as I trusted, in the Kaiser-
hof. Ultimately it became more than voluntary; I real-
ized that these five men were in dreadful earnest, and had
me entirely in their power, and that a policy of complete
frankness was my only hope.

"Well, that ought to do," Goebbels at last said abruptly.
"It should be enough. He is not quite forty-three —
twelve months younger than der Fuhrer. He is not known
in Germany, except in aliases we can conveniently annihi-
late completely. He is sympathetic toward the Party, but
belongs to no party. He has no ties. "Well, gentlemen?"

They looked questioningly, suspiciously, grimly, one at
the other. Only Goring still scowled, at the end.

I grew restless in the silence. "But, gentlemen, you have
not yet told me what the precise nature of this work is,"
I reminded them. "Since I have been gone all night. . . ."

"Even the voice, yes," nodded Goring, evidently satis-
fied at last. "Holy Mother, tell him!"

"He'll do," said Arnheim. "Go ahead."

"Der Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, was last night appointed
Chancellor of the Deutsches Reich," began Goebbels im-
portantly. "Though we go in as a minority party in the

OF ADOLF HITLER 39

cabinet, with only three seats, we will be the majority
party soon enough — "

" — The only party," snapped Goring.

Goebbels nodded. "That too, soon enough. You have
been told that you resemble the Leader?"

My hands flew wide in exasperation. "But last night
those baboons arrested me, and detained me all night,
thinking I was — er — the Leader." I caught the term of re-
spect and used it, as more sympathetic. It was clear to me
now that opportunity had guided the arrest by mistake,
and everything leading up to this conference; all that re-
mained for me to do was to squeeze the last advantage out
of it.

"Precisely. It may astonish you, my friend, to know that
your unconscious resemblance to the Leader may have
actually saved his life, his liberty, and the success of the
coup-d'etat that made him Chancellor. The work," in his
huge sonorous voice, so strange from so small and de-
formed a creature, "will be to be Adolf Hitler from now
on, whenever we call upon you. To make public appear-
ances for him. To ride in processions for him. To be his
substitute, his double, in other words, as we use doubles
for stars in the cinema."

"To be shot at for him, maybe," I objected.

"Of course, if that need arises. But most assassins are
surprisingly bad shots." Arnheim smiled encouragingly.
"With Captain Roehm's precious Storm Troopers protect-
ing you, and Himmler's Blackshirts, and the Reichswehr
now under von Blomberg, it will not be so healthy to shoot
at you, my little friend."

These distinctions meant little to me then. They mean
much now. "The pay?" I hazarded.

40

THE STRANGE DEATH

Goebbels studied me, a sneer warping his face. "What is
the most you have made, in any one year?"

There is no harm in a lie in a good cause. I multiplied
my memory of my best year's income by slightly more
than two, and named this figure with a deprecating shrug.

"Say ten times that, to start with," said this astounding
little gargoyle, in his excitement stumping on his club foot
up and down the room. "You accept?"

"You accept," Goring's chin shot out belligerently, "or
you disappear, for good, this time. You resemble him too
much, my friend, for your health, or his, or ours."

I pretended to hesitate still, to avoid showing too much
eagerness. Such opportunities never come a second time.
But a little bartering. . . .

"You are not even a Nazi yet," Goebbels purred ahead,
in that silky, sonorous whisper, his vulture eyes bulging out
toward me. "You will be, soon enough. And you will learn
that the only salvation for Germany and the world lies
in the Party; and that the Party is the Leader. It is for a
reborn Fatherland and a reborn world that you will accept.
Is it not so?"

" — To begin with, you said?" I temporized.

"God in Heaven, man, it is not money that matters,
now! What Germany has is ours, now — or soon will be.
We must have you. What you need, what you wish, will be
yours. The dinner-bell has rung, the table is spread." His
beady eyes brightened. "You will be a member of the
household of the greatest man on the earth today." An
exalted note swept into his tone and submerged all casual-
ness. "You will associate with him daily, hourly, until his
tiniest mannerism is yours. You will take part in world
events that you do not dream of, in history as we rewrite

OF ADOLF HITLER

4i

it, in the future as we make it, and that will end by seeing
Germany where she rightfully belongs — the one power in
Europe, the major power in the world. You, none other,
will take part in all this! Do you hesitate still?"

"No!" I cried out, beginning to thrill for the first time
to what all this might mean. For years pseudonyms,
aliases, disguises, had been of value to me, as personal de-
fensive measures. Now I was asked no more than to freeze
myself into one disguise, one alias, for life; and so help
save the Fatherland, and remake world history, and be paid
all I needed, indeed all I wished. "No. Gentlemen, I ac-
cept."

"Good, Adolf." His fiery eyes seemed to burn through
me. "From now on, henceforth and forever, Maximilian
Bauer is forgotten. He has died conveniently." A sardonic
smirk appeared on his emaciated face. "I myself will have
the simple stone engraved with his birth and his death in
your Passau. From now on, henceforth and forever, you are
Adolf Hitler, every moment of your life. Of course, you
will have your long periods of rest, when you need not
appear in public. Then that is settled. And now, gentle-
men," his bright eyes again were almost fanatical, "I go to
bring him in. That pier-glass mirror will serve well for
what I have to do. But have our new Adolf behind the
screen, no, until I am ready?" He thumped away with
irresistible energy — I noticed that the more excited he be-
came, the more he displayed his deformity. I let myself be
placed hidden behind the screen.

I heard movements in the room near the great mirror.
Then came the suave silky voice, a little more excited now.
"Now!" it ordered.

I stepped out. I saw a sixth man, who looked strangely

42 THE STRANGE DEATH

like me, standing in front of the pier-glass, his eyes blind-
folded by a handkerchief. He was my height, he was slim
as I, there was the same sallow tint to his complexion. It
was the Nazi leader, the new Chancellor — it could be none
other! Mountebank and windbag to most of the world,
divinely inspired leader and redeemer to his own followers,
it was surely Adolf Hitler himself!

Without a word, with satanic glee in their eyes, they had
me placed beside him. Suddenly the handkerchief covering
his eyes was whipped off.

I stared with startled eyes at my own veritable eyes
staring back at me from another face in the mirror — only,
more piercing, more brilliantly blazing, more inflexible. I
turned from the two of me staring back at me from the
mirror to the me standing beside me. No wonder they had
arrested me! And infinite blessing they had not shot me,
as well. "Excellency — I half stammered.

His mobile hands united, then opened wide. He looked
at me first with awed animal unbelief, as if I were an
illusion, a doppelganger evoked by the aid of some evil
black magic to be at his service. His hand moved falter-
ingly up, I swear to cross himself; then it froze rigidly at
his side. He walked slowly around me, studying every
angle of my face, my body.

"You are older than I," he said finally, nodding his head
with a little perturbed satisfaction. His voice shook a
trifle.

"A year younger. Women," smiled Arnheim austerely.

"A dash of hair-dye," suggested Goebbels swiftly, "and
you will forget which is yourself, Herr Hitler."

"It will double their problem." Hitler nodded with
shrewd satisfaction. "Of course, I have other doubles, my

OF ADOLF HITLER 43

friend." He brought himself to speak to me at last, but not
yet personally; more as if I were no more than a mere
waxwork, a mere clothing dummy tricked out with his
life mask. "More than one. You should see Julius Schreck,
my chauffeur. Except in the brightest sun-weather, all
swear I myself am driving. He takes the insults; I take the
bows." He smiled sardonically. "You, you are Bavarian?"

"Born Passau, Excellency," I said.

"I know Passau," he nodded thoughtfully. "It is not far
from my own Branau; I have rowed down the Inn to it.
Or Linz, where I attended Realschide. We are men of the
Danube country, we two." He hummed softly a bar or
two of the great waltz. "And you were wounded in the
war, they tell me."

I gave him a brief resume of this part of my life.

His mouth twisted awry with satisfaction, and turned
with a warm smile to Roehm. "You are right, Captain;
even the voice is the same. Mmmm, not quite; I can hear a
lighter note. It is not a great difference. My voice is dark
beer, his is light; but we are both Miinchner. From now on,
Little Adolf — ," he smiled with swift brilliance, like a sun
pushing away sullen clouds, "you are my assistant, my
bodyguard, my confidential substitute, my unworthier I.
Good!"

"And not even a Nazi yet," said Goring caustically.
"Maybe he needs a purge."

"Leave that to Stalin," said von Arnheim decisively.

"So far, Fascist Italy has concentrated all the castor oil,"
smiled Captain Roehm. "Maybe I will use some, yet."

"I will talk to him. He will be Nazi, soon enough." The
Leader dismissed this as a triviality that a few words
would correct. And he was approximately right; for I am

44

THE STRANGE DEATH

by nature sympathetic. "And hair-dye, yes. But no more
women, Little Adolf," with a strange suppressed passion
in his voice. "Not until 7 need one. And I will teach you
to live intelligently. No more smoking. No drinking. Al-
cohol ferments the food in the stomach; it is a bad poison.
You will eat as I eat, think as I think, speak as I speak.
When he is with me, as a bodyguard — You will find some
easy way to let him stay near me, always in disguise, ex-
cept when we are this group, or when he is needed. Look!
Call in Bruckner. My Adjutant, my chief bodyguard."
Swiftly, to me, "And you, Little Adolf, you speak to him.
Anything. Ask him — oh, if the conference room is ready."

"Tell him to kick his own rump around the block," sug-
gested Goring pleasantly.

"Or yours, Captain," said Hitler slyly. He stepped be-
hind the screen where I had stood concealed when he
entered the room.

Von Arnheim, who had acted on the suggestion, re-
turned, followed by a heavier tread. A soldier a head higher
than the tallest of us stalked in, muscle every tremendous
inch of him. His face was quick to smile, but quicker to
scowl. He looked at me. His heels clicked meticulously to-
gether, his hand shot forward and upward in the Nazi
salute, "Heil Hitler!"

"Heil Hitler!" I returned it briskly — too briskly, as I
learned soon; the Leader was noted for his lackadaisical
response to salutes, just as he preferred to lounge through
life in all but moments of the greatest excitement. I spoke
curtly to him: "Lieutenant, is the conference room wholly
prepared?"

"But yes, Herr Reichskanzler," he announced gravely.
"Are you sure?' Hitler himself stepped out quickly, and

OF ADOLF HITLER 45

ranged himself beside me. His voice squeaked upward a
trifle, in his excitement.

Bruckner's eyes owled from one to the other of us in
ridiculous fashion. His right hand fell swiftly to the re-
volver at his hip. "So!" he said. "God in heaven! But this
is a game you play!"

"Game? Which of us is der Reichskanzler?" I asked him
in a sterner voice, catching the intonation of Hitler's
speech precisely, even to the little squeak. I learned soon
this had come from his being gassed during the war,
affecting his vocal cords as well as his lungs.

"Why, Excellency — ." He studied us, with a little
frown. His face broke into a huge crafty grin. "I can
tell," he said, "by the clothes, but most by the dogwhip.
If it were a horsewhip, it would be Herr Streicher, lash-
ing Jews and Nazis alike. Since it is a dogwhip," his eyes
fawned on Hitler's face, "it is you. But, if you change
those. . . ."

Hitler's face went remote and thoughtful. "So all that
differentiates us, Little Adolf, to the world, is a suit of
clothes and a dogwhip. Even these will at once be remedied.
You may go, Bruckner, thank you. Captain," again his
eyes warmed with affection toward Roehm, "I will leave
Little Adolf with you. Bring him in to me later. Let me
see. We have that conference at noon — ."

"Little Adolf will be there," said Goebbels suavely.
"From now on. It is well that he knows all that is to be
known. We never know when he will be called on to talk
"also."

I stood at attention, heels clicked together, with the
others, while the Leader marched out of the room. All the
rest but Captain Roehm followed him. He gave me a soft

4 6 THE STRANGE DEATH

and embracing smile when they had gone. "Come with
me," he said. His voice sunk a little, as if caressing.

I nodded and fell into step beside him.

So began my new and fantastic life.

OF ADOLF HITLER

47

CHAPTER III

UP A LONELY ROAD

HITLER'S Chief of Staff led me to his own quarters
and closed the door. He turned to me with a quiet
smile. "But seat yourself. Cigarette?" He pushed a packet
toward me. "A little brandy?"

"But the Chancellor said I was not to." I wondered
aloud.

The Captain shrugged amiably. "He is very ascetic.
Sometimes I think he is afraid of life, of himself — of let-
ting himself go, fearing how far it would take him. But
he means, not when he is around; and, of course, not when
you are acting as him. When you are alone, or with some
intimate companion, naturally you do what pleases you
most." His eyes surveyed me with appraising approval.
They were strange, friendly eyes, and often seemed to
caress. "I had a teacher once, said the face mirrored the
soul. Your face and his are twins. I know you already,
then; and I can study him in you. But how have you
avoided becoming a Nazi? We began in Bavaria."

"Perhaps because I have been so little in Bavaria." I
smiled respondingly; I had liked his face from the start.
His hugely built globe head, battle-marred and crudely
patched, looked like a Gibraltar to trust. And I liked his
soothing voice, his deprecating courtesy. "This cigarette is
a treat," I said. "After twelve hours. . . ."

48 THE STRANGE DEATH

He shrugged casually. "Whenever you will, you can
always get what you want in my rooms."

"Even a woman?" I jested. "Such was my plan, in Ber-
lin. At least, I brought one along with me."

His eyes saddened a little, as if I had said something in-
decent. "What you will. But tell me, you have never even
heard the Leader speak?"

"I never saw him in the flesh until half an hour ago. If
I am to be his double. ..." I considered it. "Tell me a
little of his background. The real Hitler. I mean, what
one doesn't read in the papers."

"In the Party press," he spoke thoughtfully, "and Goeb-
bel's fine hand is always there, you read he is an inspired
son of Germany, come to exterminate the foes of the
Fatherland, like St. George and his dragon: the Jewish
swine, the Marxian conspirators. He is all that. In the
opposition papers, which please Herr Gott we will sup-
press to the last one, he is pictured as an arch-fiend, a
thug, an assassin, a demagogue. He is none of these,
although there is no lack of thugs and assassins in the
party, and a demagogue or two, and surely at least one
arch-fiend." He stretched further forward in his chair,
eyes searching my face. "I have known him for thirteen
years. Perhaps no man in Germany knows him better, ex-
cept Adolf himself; certainly no man loves him more.
Shall I then tell you what I know of him? It will take
patience to listen. . . ."

"I am all ears."

"You cannot know too much, if you are to be his double.
Some one might ask you a simple question about your be-
ginnings; you could not forever evade such things. I shall
start at the beginning, then. For I have talked with him

OF ADOLF HITLER 49

night after night until the sun rose red; I have seen him
trust others and have them fail him, and learn it is never
wise to trust others; and I see him now, trusting not even
me, who loves him." Again his face saddened. "But I must
begin at the beginning."

Adolf Hitler, he told me, was a real son of the Wald-
viertel, that undulating Danube land fringing this mish-
mash of warring races lumped together by the Versailles
Treaty as Czechoslovakia. The Waldviertel was a land of
dull Catholic peasants, where cousin intermarried with
cousin for generation after generation, and there were
closer unions at times. They knew no higher trades than
farming and setting up a little shop as village carpenter or
blacksmith, or acting as miller for the impoverished neigh-
boring hamlets. His grandfather, Johann Georg Hiedler,
was a miller's helper until his death, never rising to owning
his own mill. When he was fifty, he married a farm woman
named Schiklgruber, by whom he had had a son five years
before. This son, Alois Schiklgruber, became a cobbler, and
was shrewd enough to marry a wealthy woman named
Anna Glasl-Horer, fourteen years older than himself. She
sent her illiterate husband to school, bought him a little
job in the civil service, and when he was forty had him
legitimatized as Alois Hiittler — so run the faded church
records. When he was forty-six, his wife died, and he
rushed into a marriage Vith a younger woman, who died
within the year. This man, who was to become Adolf's
father, was the man Adolf hates most to this day, the man
who has influenced him most for good and evil.

"I had heard none of this," I said, when he paused.

The Captain nodded. "In the house next to where Alois
Hitler mourned the precipitate death of his second wife,

50

THE STRANGE DEATH

lived a cousin of his, Klara Poelzl, a tall hysterical girl
with a mysterious past. It is from such mothers great men
always come. At the age of ten she had secured employ-
ment as maid in the house of Frau Schiklgruber, who later
became legally Frau Hiittler and Frau Hitler. This cousin
had run away to Vienna, and there she lived on her wits
for ten years. To this day, no one knows how she spent
those years; though there are unkind rumors of the way
she lived. After all, Vienna was gay, with ample room for
a young and lively girl who lacked money, but could at
least please. I have talked with one man who claims to
have known her then; he said he and the men of his com-
pany knew her thoroughly. This, naturally, I never told
to Adolf. Well, she returned to Branau. A customs in-
spector, such as Alois Hitler was, needed a wife. He was
fascinated by his wife's former servant grown into such a
mysteriously attractive young woman, and he married
her. This was 1885. Four years later, April 20, 1889,
Adolf Hitler was born."

I reminded him that I was exactly three hundred and
seventy-five days younger.

"But yes," Captain Roehm proceeded. "Now from such
a family, imbeciles and geniuses come. There is a half-
brother by the first wife, long a waiter, and now a res-
taurant-keeper in Berlin. His sister, Angela, was a cook in
a Charity Hall for Jewish Students in Vienna: to such
degradation do these foul parasites force the women of our
race! The Leader has made her his housekeeper; her daugh-
ter — the mother is Frau Raupel — was the one woman
since his mother that the Leader loved and wholly toler-
ated. Adolf himself had a full brother, who died in in-
fancy, and a sister, unmarried, still living in Vienna. The

OF ADOLF HITLER ji

rest of his relatives live still all in the Waldviertel, and
there are no geniuses among them. There is one first cousin,
Edward Schmidt, a hunchback who cannot speak clearly
— a village monster — and, like the rest, living in abject
poverty.

"But there was one genius," said the Captain impres-
sively, "in this family. Some strange tension in his soul be-
tween the constellation that was his father and his mother,
the father's third wife, burned away all the dross in his
soul, and left only flame. I do not know if I can make you
see," said the Captain. "I will try. I have read my Freud
and my Stekel, and even sewers may flow clear water.
What could you expect of Alois Schiklgruber then Hut-
tier then Hitler, a cobbler made customs official, but the
utter arrogance of the little swine lifted to brief village
authority? He had a round hairless face, like a leprous
melon — his picture is on his grave, you may yourself see
it. His eyes were bitter little needles, he nourished huge,
upturned moustaches as was the custom, his chin was rock.
He who had been a village bastard had become the petty
Caesar: let the world kneel to him! If the world snick-
ered behind his back, at least his sickly son Adolf must hop
to toe the line when the father snapped his fingers. He
must make his son an official too; and, when the boy
spoke of becoming an artist, the father snarled that he was
a spineless weakling, a feckless dreamer, moon-struck, all
laziness. It is strange how traits reappear: Adolf himself,
"when little Geli, his niece whom he loved, would become
a concert singer, on that only put his foot down. Like
father. . . . Well, this father sneered at the boy; and,
when this did not suffice, there was a belt, a shoe, a stick
handy, and he beat him.

J2 THE STRANGE DEATH

"But Adolf had his ally, in this tall, mysterious, quiet
mother with the sensitive features and the soft, lovely,
luminous eyes. Alois Hitler, for all that he threw at her
what an excellent hausfrau his first wife had been, what
an obedient beauty his second, could never master her.
And so he snarled away to the tavern, and drank and
swilled like the pig he was. He died of a stroke while
guzzling a bottle of cheap red wine in a tavern. He had
spent his life marrying and enjoying women. Adolf is
another story.

"Just before the father died, no, some years before then,
when the boy was six, his mother developed cancer. It is
a living death, and not speedy. It took her ten years to die;
and it was not a pretty nor a happy sight for the sensitive
boy. Oh, but he must be all that his father had not been;
she fired him; she poured her artist's soul, her dammed-up
dreamings, into, his bent ears. When in 1903 the father
had his stroke and died, Adolf was fourteen, a student at
the Realschule in Linz. But his mother, too, wished him to
be an artist; and in school they jeered at him as a fool, like
all his cousins. Within the year he left and idled at home,
living with his mother on her tiny pension, while his soul
expanded. 1907 it was when he first submitted a picture
to the Academy at Vienna, and again the next year. The
pictures were sneered at: mere architecture, not painting.
But a youth must have academic achievement even to be-
come an architect. And so, with barely fifty kronen in his
pocket, in 1909, his mother buried two years, he moved to
Vienna to make of himself the man his father had never
been.

"Now come the things so hard to say," continued the
Captain. "All of Adolf Hitler, all of Der Fuhrer, all the

OF ADOLF HITLER

53

greatness, was in him already. It took the cauldron of
world events to bring it out, that was all. He had been
bred a Catholic. But he detested his father with all of his
soul: and what is the Church but the father spread all over
the earth and the heavens? Even the priest called himself
the Father; the pope was the Father of Christendom; the
Jewish Jehovah was God the All-Father; and Adolf wanted
no truck or traffic with his father or his father's people.
You see? Ach, we call on a Jew then, on Sigmund Freud,
as our witness; from some German he must have stolen his
ideas, to vomit them out, corrupted, as his own. There
was a Prince of Thebes, once, who slew his father the king,
and, all unknowing, married his mother the queen. Of
their kindred was Adolf. His father stood in his young
mind for hated and detested authority; well, the son
would rebel against the authority of others until he died.
Yet his father had won his mother, once; and this must be
the son's eternal Grail. To qualify to win her, dying as she
was, dead as she was of the dread cancer, the son had to
incarnate authority in his own body and soul, such author-
ity as had once been embodied in the dethroned Alois
Hitler, in the priest, in the Pope, in God the Father him-
self.

"Worst of all, the mother was dead. It would take more
skill, more power than Orpheus had, to summon her back
to the embrace of living arms. Such power the son must
take and hold. And even in the Nordic folk-myth out of
" Thebes, there was a bar between son and mother that even
the gods could not overleap. There was a marriage, yes,
and fruit from it; but, once the secret was revealed, there
was death for the sinful queen, and blind wandering over
the earth's face for the sinning son. In her, the mother, the

54

THE STRANGE DEATH

son saw all women: and she was forbidden, hence all
women are forbidden. There are some among us" — Cap-
tain Roehm stared at the wall as he spoke" — who find one
way out of this maze, and it is a warm and pleasant way.
There are those whom it condemns to eternal loneliness.
Of such was Adolf Hitler. Let the Dutch mongrel sneer at
him as a fanatical onanist, his soul is the soul of a saint,
and a Caesar, and a god: no one can take this from him.

"Ach, I talk too long," he said. He refilled my brandy
glass, and his own, and let its fire relight his ashen tale.
"We have the young Adolf Hitler, then, barely nineteen,
in Vienna. Poor. At times starving. He made tiny draw-
ings and water-colors for the few heller they would bring,
that he might eat. He shoveled snow in winter. He begged
on the street-corners. He lived for three years in the most
desolate slum neighborhood in Vienna, in a hotel for
homeless men. But he grew sick at the poverty of those
around him, in the midst of prodigal revelry in the palaces
and the cafes; and most of all at the upstart Jews with
their poisonous Jewish Marxism as the remedy. The time
came when he could stand it all no longer. In 19 13 it was
that he moved to Munich, when he heard it had become
the German center of opposition to the Jews. When he was
summoned to service in the Austrian army, he pleaded his
ill health as an excuse, and was let off.

"And then, the shot at Sarajevo, and the Slavophile
Hapsburg shot down like the dog he was, and the outraged
Fatherland rising to defend Nordic civilization against the
inferior nations. Adolf's personal petition to Ludwig of
Bavaria was granted — were they not both worshippers of
the music of Wagner, that eternal rebel against author-
ity? — and in October 1914 he was sent to the front, as a

OF ADOLF HITLER jj

German soldier. He was made orderly to the regimental
staff, and hence did not have to waste his abilities in trench
duty. By December, he had won the Iron Cross, Second
Class. Two years later he was wounded, and yet in August
of the last year he had won the same decoration, First
Class. In mid-October, he was gassed and blinded — it is
that which at times fingers his voice still; but his eyesight
returned more piercingly than any man's in Europe.

"The heroic German effort failed. The new Bavarian Re-
public, a thing of Jews and renegades, denied him German
citizenship; Austria would not accept him, for had he not
fought with Germany? So he spent the winter with the
reserve battalion of his regiment, which had become part
of the Reichswehr, and for a year after March, 19 19, he
received food and pay from the army as a secret agent, an
intelligence officer, a part of the espionage. He was sent to
investigate labor, workers' and folkic groups, and report
on them. He was by good fortune detailed to attend a
meeting of the Deutsche Arbeiter Partei, where he heard
Gottfried Feder make the principal speech. Feder was
violently opposed to Jewish capital, but not of course to
Aryan capital — creative capital, as opposed to exploiting
capital. Adolf became a convert, and was named as the
seventh member of the executive council of a party with
less than sixty members.

"From then on, the party is Hitler," continued Roehm.
"He himself invented the Leader principle, which alone
"can save Europe and mankind in this troubled age. He gave
the party its name. He himself designed its emblem, the
Hakenkreuz — the swastika. But for his betrayal by others,
he would have ruled the Reich since 1923. These years,
however, have not been wasted; they have made practi-

5 6 THE STRANGE DEATH

cally all Germany the Party. Brunswick made him a Ger-
man citizen, and within the year he was almost elected
President instead of the Old Man. And, once he has carried
into effect the Party's social program, we will see the Ger-
man millennium upon us. It is this man, Little Adolf,
whose double you have the honor to be selected to be."

"But you have left yourself out of it all, Captain, and
the rest who had made this amazing success possible." I
studied him with increased liking.

Again he shrugged. "Why talk of myself? All Germany
talks of me." He said it bitterly.

"But I did not mean that, Captain."

"I know. What difference do 7 make? I have been a sol-
dier since I was nineteen. I marched with the Freikorps
against Red Munich. I fought the Communists in the
Ruhr. I myself built the Storm Troopers, to protect the
Leader — my Leader." A tense glow of worship softened
his granite, battle-marred face. "And yet, they snap at my
heels without ceasing." He flushed. "We have not always
agreed, naturally. To me, the Storm Troopers must become
the Reichswehr; only so can Germany have the world-
conquering Nazi army she needs and the world needs. Yet
he has sent me away, for insisting, once already. Your face
shows that you know much about me. From La Paz, in
lovely Bolivia, I wrote to Dr. Heimsath, merely comment-
ing that real love, the love of man and man, was unknown.
As one would write to any friend. You too know of this —
and how? Do you think / do not know what two Judases
to me and my Leader saw that these personal letters of
mine were broadcast in the opposition papers, and spread
on hand bills throughout the Reich? The Leader stood
firm, yes: it was all disgusting slander, he said; I would

OF ADOLF HITLER

57

remain his Chief of Staff though heaven shook. But — he
knows." His face saddened. "He can himself at any time
use it as a weapon against me. And I — my hands are tied.
How can I even denounce the two who bared so my per-
sonal life to the world?"

"In Basle, they said it was Goring and Goebbels who
were responsible." I watched his face as I spoke.

It did not flicker. "What difference does it make, if I
cannot speak? But J know, and that is something. Besides,
one lives but once; and would you live a virgin, as he
must?" His craggy face seamed a trifle; his nostrils rose
delicately.

"Not I," I smiled defensively. "I have not, so far; I trust
I never will."

"Things get known," he smiled remorsefully. "Three
nights ago, a perfectly lovely lad accosted me on the Wil-
helmplatz. I could have arreslfcd him for soliciting, — but
why? We went to a biergarten; we went to my rooms. He
had his police health-card — just a young prostitute from
Hamburg, trying to make good in the capital. I had a
lovely couple of hours. Why not?"

I am afraid my eyes widened a trifle.

He chuckled. "You did not know that the male pros-
titutes too have the police health-cards, no? But it is so —
it has been so since early in the republic. And, would you
believe this, there was a report of it the next morning on
the Leader's desk. He showed it to me without a word,
and without a word he tore it up. But. ... It does not
give me the easy feeling, no? To be watched constantly,
to be spied on — to feel that men rise in the Party, as they
spy and tattle on each other. . . . The essence of disor-
ganization, of decentralization, to me — the opposite of that

5«

THE STRANGE DEATH

teamwork, that cooperation, that I have filled my Sturm-
abteilung * with. It was no doubt some of those Schutz-
staffel,** set to watch me by Himmler; and I can guess
who is behind that. Well — "

"But, Captain," I said, suddenly remembering, "remem-
ber, I brought a friend to the Kaiserhof , and surely some
message from me should go to her!"

He chuckled sadly. "With a woman, there is always
some mixup. But do not worry, the inimitable Herr Dok-
tor Goebbels has said that he will attend to it for you. No
doubt he will tell you what he has done, in good time.
For all I know, he'll report to her that you died of a heart-
attack, or choked to death on a Vienna wurst, or heaven
knows what. It will be done efficiently, be sure of that;
and she will no doubt be returned where she belongs.
Well, I talk your ears off, and it is already almost noon.
We go to the conference."

I fell into step with him, and we started to join the
others. As for Chiquita, what finally happened to her re-
mains a mystery. I discovered, a couple of months later,
that she had not returned to the Hague, and that her dis-
tracted husband had been entirely unable to locate her.
Goebbels, when I asked him again, shrugged that he was
sure she had returned in safety; he had been assured of it.
More than a year later one of the SS staff told me of the
Propaganda Minister's going to return some young wife,
who had been abandoned by her lover at the Kaiserhof, to
her husband, and deciding that there were better uses she
could be put to. According to this man — and I was careful
never to reveal that I might know anything of the case—

» Storm Troopers, Brownshirts — the famous SA.
** Blackshirts, the SS.

OF ADOLF HITLER

59

she had not been agreeable, at first, and had been put in
protective custody. It was to escape this that she yielded
finally, and had in the end been handed on to some under-
ling of the same department. Well, she had been most
anxious to see Berlin, so I at least had no responsibility.
And strange things happen in Germany.

Here we were, at last, with the men at the head of the
Party. Here was Hitler, tense, concentrated, aflame even
more than when I had seen him first; the unsightly little
dwarf Goebbels, with his vulture's face; Goring, bull-like,
hill-like, rippling his grotesque fat whenever he moved;
von Arnheim, portly, cool, distinguished. Heines was with
them no longer.

It was strange to be of them, and yet not one of them.
I was Maximilian Bauer no longer; that chapter was ended.
I was not Adolf Hitler; only* his double, his Little Adolf.
I was not Adolf Hitler, yet. But at any moment they
might call upon me to stand up and go forth to the world
as Adolf Hitler. I was nothing in the mighty drama of
Germany against her enemies within and without; and yet
at any moment I might be called upon to be the star. That
was it! I was like the understudy in the theatre. My name
was not on the program; indeed, I had given up the right
to have a name of my own. None of the press was mine.
But I had to be letter-perfect in my part; and the slight-
est indisposition on the part of the star, the slightest whim
of the management, might put me forward to speak the
lines and enact the actions that might make or mar the
"success of the glorious performance. I must bide my turn,
and meanwhile become the character I had accepted as
mine, henceforth.

I studied Adolf Hitler with quickened interest, now, in

'6o THE STRANGE DEATH

the Klieg light that Roehm had thrown upon his life, his
character. But I studied the others, as well. Their con-
versation was like machine-gun fire. As they flung words
back and forth, the picture grew upon me of what had
happened the night before, while I was being stripped and
searched and imprisoned and allowed to drowse on that
chilly cot in the room beneath the chamber where the
Chancellor slept — where General von Schleicher slept, not
yet informed that he was Chancellor no longer.

It was of the election of the last summer that they spoke
first. A few of these facts I knew vaguely; much of it
came to me for the first time. They had rolled up almost
fourteen million votes, and the Leader had demanded of
the Old Man to be named forthwith as Chancellor.

"You scared the old dotard out of his wits," chuckled
Goring. " 'I demand to have precisely the powers of II
Duce, after his March on Rome.' — Colossal!" His mimicry
was excellent, too.

Goebbels smiled wryly. "And what the Old Man said
to his precious Franzy, after he had dispersed you, Herr
Reichskanzler — 'Let that Bohemian Corporal learn man-
ners, or I'll name him postmaster in some little town where
he can spend his declining years licking my rump on post-
age stamps.' "

"It is changed, now, no?" said Hitler dryly.

They spoke next of the session in the Reichstag where
Goring, as Speaker, would not even see the dissolution de-
cree signed by the President, even when von Papen pushed
it under his nose, until Goring had put the Communist
vote of lack of confidence, which smothered the govern-
ment in the worst parliamentary defeat the Republic had
ever known, by a vote of J13 to 32.

OF ADOLF HITLER 61

"It put Franzy in his place," nodded Arnheim. "And
what an ass Schleicher was as Chancellor. . . . Franzy
ferreting out the Osthilfe scandal, and slipping word of
it to you, Herr Hitler. . . . And even the Center fired
him, and there was nobody but Hugenburg's mossback
Nationalists who would take him in."

More confidential things were spoken of now. . . . Of
a secret meeting arranged by Papen with Hitler at the
home of the old banker, Baron von Schroeder. . . . Of
the alliance offered and accepted. . . . Of von Schleicher's
secret meeting in the Reichswehr ministry, in which a
military dictatorship was decided on, with Hugenburg
and Papen under arrest, and Hitler to be arrested or worse.

"And the ass threatened to % call out the Reichswehr
against us, to the Old Man himself! That's how he cut his
throat," said Arnheim.

"When Franzy reminded the Old Man of thai, last
night. . . ." Goebbels laughed evilly. "And what a coup,
to wake him up at eleven at night, his wits more befuddled
than ever — "

"Yet, we won!" said Hitler firmly. "Even if I am only a
minority Chancellor, with only three seats in the cab-
inet. . . ."

"The effort," von Arnheim pointed out quietly, "was to
shelve you; to emasculate your power."

Hitler blushed slightly. "But did you see the Old Man's
silly face when the Storm Troopers marched by this morn-
ing, and he turned to his precious son Otto and said, T did
not remember that we took so many Russian prisoners.'
That incredible nitwit for president!"

Goebbels observed the blush, and winked slightly at me.
"It is a strange way to emasculate your power, Herr Hitler,

THE STRANGE DEATH

to put Goring over the Berlin police, and Frick as Reichs-
minister of the Interior. Although Wilhelm Frick is an
authority on emasculation, since he introduced into the
Reichstag a law to castrate all perverts."

This time it was Roehm that flushed. Otherwise, he ig-
nored the jibe. "We have thirty-three days before the elec-
tion," he announced. "Two hundred and fifty deputies are
not enough, out of six hundred seats. How are we to do
it?"

"Leave that to us!" said Goebbels jubilantly. "We will
find a way, eh, Herr Reichskanzler?"

"If any man can, you will," smiled the Leader.

"We will have the majority," said Goring heavily. "I
pledge you my word. Even if I have to kill off so many of
the opposition."

"Well, we have already one new convert in Little Adolf,
here," said Goebbels, a sneer twisting his warped face.

"He will be a zealous one, that I promise you," said
Hitler. "I myself will see to that."

For a long time I thought that he was right.

OF ADOLF HITLER

*3

CHAPTER IV

"HOW ODD OF GOD—"

SO BEGAN for me a close association with one of the
men I still believe to be one of the four greatest men
of the present century — for there is a greatness in evil,
as there is a greatness in good; and there can be greatness
blended of both. This association lasted five years and
eight months to the day. I do not know, in spite of his
faults and the ruin at last he spread, but that Hitler was
the greatest man since Napoleon, in the field of action,
the field of influencing the lives of millions, for good or
for evil, or for both. And I came to know him better
than myself; for I slowly became him.

Of these four great, strong men, Lenin I never saw.
I only know that with icy, remorseless logic, he sought
to build the dream of a bitter, dead German- Jew, and to
cover the world with men and women who knew no lord
on earth or above ... to decree by ukase the words of
a Jew long slain, "The first shall be last, and the last first,"
until all men on earth would stumble under them . . .
•and who built at last at least half a continent into such
a world. Stalin I once saw review the flower of the Red
Army on Red Square in Moscow, and I saw in a human
face, granite — a mongrel half Mongol and half Caucasian
— superabundant vitality held in leash by more than

6 4

THE STRANGE DEATH

superabundant intelligence. Mussolini I know, better now
than when I faced him in the dreadful strain of the con-
ference that led to the pact at Munich: an oily peasant
strutting his role of modern Caesar over the dregs of the
ancient Romans. Men respect Stalin, I am told, and it is
easy to believe it. Men fear Mussolini. But men worshipped
Hitler. For good or for evil, or for a fanatical blend of
both, he was a flame, a flame of the spirit, a soul on fire to
build his world-girdling dream. Joan of Arc, illiterate
French peasant girl as she was, servitor of her Lord in
Heaven and of no Christian god, held something of the
same mad consecration, and France still quivers taller at
her memory — France, the eternal deadly enemy of the
German people. After six hundred years, Germany at
length produced her own inspired saint, man where she
was woman, a scholar where she was illiterate, empire-
organizer where she was mere liberator, yet with a man-
ner of death strangely akin, at least in the part that be-
trayal played in it.

There is a difference between them deeper than these:
who knows it better than I? Joan's dream is what we call
sane: to free France for the French, little as they may
have been worth it. Achieve it, and no outsiders are in-
jured or even humiliated. The dream of Adolf Hitler was
different. To find its analogue, we must travel back down
the bloody centuries to Rome trampling a prostrate world
into the bloodied soil, to Athens in a death struggle for
lordship over the barbaroi, to twelve accursed tribes who
swaggered that they alone were the chosen of God, and
all the rest the despised, the non-elect. So Adolf Hitler
dreamed the mad dream of one superior race striding in
godlike dominance over the world, and the rest of the

OF ADOLF HITLER 6 5

world kneeling in awed obeisance before it. For years I
myself was under the hypnotic spell of this dream. There
is a hashish grown of no hemp, and its frantic dreams
recur.

It is easy for envious, dyspeptic bookworms like H. G.
Wells to sneer at men of action. . . . Alexander, the
lunging spear that no men ever turned, who cowed the
arrogant East before the men of the West for a thousand
years. . . . Caesar, great on the field and greater in end-
ing ancient abuses, who turned a gladiatorial shambles
into an empire. . . . Napoleon, who shook the tree of
monarchy throughout Europe and the world so thor-
oughly that, after a century, it crashed forever, but for
a few minor branches wilting toward the swallowing
soil. I know the slow obeisance to the decretals of those
strange, aloof souls he rated higher: Socrates the probing
idealist, Gautama with his warped way of light, the Jew-
ish carpenter whose mosaic ethics are still the uttered
goal for much of the West. I would add to them other
and newer names, whose waves will spread at least as
far: the Englishman who traced our bodily evolution
from microbe to man; the German-Jew — these words
will be read in realms and times after the Nazis with their
Jew-baiting have vanished, so I may at last dare say
them — who set on fire the slow, remorseless flame of
analytical passion that made Soviet Russia possible; the
German- Jew who for the first time taught man what
moved his thought and action; the German- Jew who an-
swered his tribesman after the silence of thirty centuries,
and spelled the riddle of the Pleiades and banded Orion,
and measured Mazzaroth in his season and Arcturus with
his sons.

66

THE STRANGE DEATH

The man of action born of a dream, the man of dreams
and thought alone, these two hold different sway over
men's minds and bodies. The first, the Napoleon, the
Hitler, plunges a nation, a continent, a world into war-
fare and death, with slavery, or it may be ultimate libera-
tion at the end; and it is much to mold the world one
lives in, so that every knee bows or every cheek pales at
one's passing. The other, the Socrates, the Einstein, speaks
a word that ripens in centuries to come, and is still fecund
when pyramids have crumbled. Both are great; and there
is in the scales of the centuries between them no choice.
And, of the great of earth of this century, in the world-
shaking field of action born of a dream, I know of none
greater than that Adolf Hitler I lived so close to until
his strange and unbelievable death.

Strange, that I should have three times mentioned Ger-
man-Jews in thinking now of all he was and achieved.
I could never get to the bottom of his boundless hatred of
the Jews. Unless Captain Roehm was right, and out of
his hatred of his father he hated them for their All-Father
Jehovah and his Judaized son and Hitler's own eternal
soul-slavery to the blood and tears they stood for, a slavery
no rebellion could weaken. He was to the Catholics bit-
terly opposed, and against the Protestants almost as bit-
ter. But he gave to each of these a day of grace, an hour
for repentance. He forgave them seventy and seven times,
providing only they recanted and became full-hearted
Nazis. For the Jew, there was no repentance, no forgive-
ness, no terms on which one could be permitted to be-
come a Nazi, or an integral part of our German world.
There were hours when he was convinced that they could
not rightly be spoken of as belonging to the human race.

OF ADOLF HITLER 67

No forgiveness for him, for his parents, for his dead and
buried grandparents. I often wondered what forgotten
sin or slip of one of Hitler's own grandparents first hard-
ened him into this mold.

Not that I did not try to probe his mind down to its
last, tiniest flicker of passion. It was this I was ordered to
do. Goebbels took me aside for one moment that first
morning. "Study him," he commanded, gleaming passion
in his vulture face, "you will have opportunity enough.
Learn him. Become him. So, when it must be you in his
stead appear. . . ."

I pledged my word to do this. And I had opportunity
enough, from that first morning.

He was no man for detail, Adolf Hitler. Freshly named
Chancellor as he was, he left Goring and Frick and the
secretariats to struggle through the immediate beginning
of elevating Germany out of its slough, and wandered
absently into the anteroom where I sat, baffled, before a
pile of party platforms, pamphlets, pronunciamentos.
Blonda, his pet police bitch, fawned at his heels. He un-
hooked the worn dogwhip he always wore, and let the
bitch gnaw at his feet on its handle. The dogs, I was sure,
he loved mostly because they were ripping and rending
power abject at his feet: them at least he could always
master, always subjugate. Goring kept lion cubs for pets
and named them all, male and female alike, Caesar. They
must have something to lash and cow, these Nazis.

Hitler seemed to be speaking mostly to himself. "A
start this time," he said. "After ten years. It is a long
time, ten years."

"And the end will be . . . what?" It was fascinating
to watch the play of his mobile features, his mobile hands.

68

THE STRANGE DEATH

I let my hands lie as his lay, move as his moved. As he
spoke, I let my face fall into his expressions. I never
deviated from this, until it became second nature with
me, and I would not have found it easy to think the
thoughts and act the actions of the forgotten Maximilian
Bauer again.

His hands spread in the hopeless effort to make the ob-
vious clearer. "All Germany only for those who are all
German. All Germany to include all who are all German.
How can we have in the Party, how can we have in the
Reich, one single soul who splits his allegiance, until some
of it is anti-German? They are traitors within the camp,
Judases within the twelve. There is a firing-squad, for
traitors. Jews. . . . There was never one that was not
loyal first to his Jewish god, to his filthy tribe, to the
world-wide conspiracy of Jewish capitalists who conspire,
without ceasing, to cripple every nation into becoming
part of a world state ruled by Jewish financiers. No, Jews
and Marxists, they are the major enemies of the Fatherland.
They must go!"

"But take Marx," I protested. "Surely he was no con-
spirator to aid capitalists!"

"You will learn," he said, his tense blue eyes gleaming
eerily. "He most of all. Wherever Marxism develops, you
see the Jews flocking like vultures to feast on the carcasses
of Nordic enterprises, Nordic ideals. Look at Russia. They
have no Jewish problem, because they are all Jews, all
Judaized. They make no distinction. A Jewish youth can
there corrupt a Nordic girl, make her his mistress or even
his wife, breed children by her — and what becomes of the
purity of the race then? A Jewish girl can seduce a Nordic
man — and they are trained to it, from childhood — and the

OF ADOLF HITLER

69

racial stock becomes all mongrel. But why go to Russia,
when we have Germany ever before us? What do you
know of ritual murder?" His eyes seemed to burn through
me.

"Well, my Leader, I have read things. . . . The trial
at Kiev. . . ."

"Ach, the evidence is strangled, the judges bought, the
guilty ones freed. There is no doubt about it; I have it on
the words of men I trust — Streicher, Rosenberg, many
more — it is the final mystery of the Jewish religion. Look,
under your arm!" In his excitement he snatched at the
paper so swiftly I could not move my arm in time, and he
tore a deep rip down the top. He smoothed it swiftly, and
his quivering finger pointed at the horrors it contained.
"You know how careful the Judenkenner is to authenticate
every fact. Look, I read you! 'Deutscbenationalkamerad,
have you forgotten that the Jew violates your child? De-
bauches your wife? Corrupts your sister? Seduces your
fiancee? Assassinates your parents? Rots your culture? In-
fects with dreadful plagues your race?' What do you say
of that, Little Adolf! I have a scientist who assures me that
the Jews first developed all venereal diseases, gonorrhea
and syphilis and all the rest, and that they are mentioned
as a plague in the cowardly flight through the wilderness
from Egypt to Palestine, and from there they spread to the
Americas, and with Columbus so back to Europe. Do you
wonder that I recognize the Jew as a plague worse than the
Slack Death, and have pledged my soul from the Father-
land to extirpate them, and from every land that follows
its wholesome example?"

"Yet there are only half a million of them in the entire
Reich," I urged.

7 o THE STRANGE DEATH

"And one typhoid carrier can infect a city of millions.
There are in the Reich half a million Jews too many. I will
end that."

"Well, all that may be so," I wondered aloud. "Yet I can
truthfully say that I never yet met a Jew that went around
raping children and debauching Nordic wives; and I have
encountered quite a few. Once I had a Jewish mistress — "
His face went almost green with horror. "You too have
been contaminated then, yes! But you have been snatched
from the burning in time. Of course, you never knew the
Jews you met for the monsters they are; that is their dia-
bolical cleverness. Even at times Nordics, and men of lower
races, Frenchmen, Mongolians, even African Negroes, are
blamed for their crimes; but it is not hard to recognize the
Jew by his crime. From now on, avoid them, utterly, for-
ever — unless they are at the open end of a gun whose butt
you hold. Ah, they think they are shrewd! From America
they propose to send this Walter Lippman to interview me,
as a face for their machinations! You investigate care-
fully, and you will find that the paper he represents must
be owned by Jews, and be but a propaganda sheet for
their worldwide conspiracy. It is suggested that I meet
Lord Reading to discuss the relations between the Reich
and England. Both lands are with the vermin almost to the
death infected. Do I meet them? No! Thunderweather,
no! A thousand times, no! On the telephone I would not to
a Jew even speak. Not since I have become a man have I
to one even spoken! So it will be with all Germans, when
the Nazi is the only party, and we have done our work."

"Is it their race, or their religion, or their shrewdness
in finance — "

His mobile blue eyes brightened. "It is that they are in-

OF ADOLF HITLER

7i

ferior; and association with inferiors corrupts. And they
are inferiors with such boundless and bitter ambition, that
if you hire a Jew to fire your furnace, a Jewess to wash
your floors, they plot at once to corrupt, to debauch, to
replace, to supplant, to eject, utterly to dominate! They
have no place in a world peopled by the superior race.
They are not German, Little Adolf — is that not enough? I
can never forgive them for that!"

"Some of them have lived here a long time — centuries."

"Ach, but their hearts look toward Jerusalem as the
world capital, and Jewish procurators ruling every land as
a province of a universal Jewish state. Look at your Dis-
raeli and Rufus Isaacs in England — did they not become
Lord Gladstone and Lord Reading, rulers of that empire
which should be as Germanic as we? Look at your Roths-
childs, Sassoons, Speyers, Guggenheims, and countless more
throughout the world. The spider web of their interna-
tional conspiracies fouls every land, every administration,
every financial deal. Patriotism? Only to Jerusalem. They
would betray any cause, any state, any man, for thirty
pieces of silver asked, what am I offered? There is no race
like them, no group like them. The Catholics serve the
machinations of the international papacy, yes; it is signifi-
cant that a Jew, Jesus, is their god, and that his whole
cabinet consisted of Jews, with St. Peter as Chancellor.
Even the Protestants have their international church or-
ganizations, inspired by the Jewish example, and forget
that a man's first duty is to his Fatherland. These, the
Catholics and the Protestants, can see the light, and alter
from their errors. But the Jew, no. What he touches, he
fouls. Look, our legends, our literature, our science, our
philosophy, our music, our system of government, all Ger-

72

THE STRANGE DEATH

man, all Nordic, no? But our religion! Look how the Jew
has fouled that!"

It was no time to ask the Leader about Heine, Mendels-
sohn, Einstein, and a few more names that occurred to me.
I spoke quietly. "Surely he is entitled to his own religion,
for himself; and can we blame him that we took one Jew-
ish sect and made it the religion of the gentile world?"

Hitler's eyes blazed. "What is the German religion? Our
great legends, Wotan the All Father, Thor and his ham-
mer, Loki the mischievous Satan, Siegfried, lifted into
heaven by Wagner's supernal genius; these, and what the
great German thinkers, the philosophers, have made of
them. Sometimes I think Ludendorff is right, and only a
return to a magnificent paganism can 1 wipe the Jewish
stain off our religion. They can not be right, Catholics,
Protestants, any who worship the Jewish Jehovah. This
Jewish cult called Christianity brought spiritual terrorism
into the world for the first time; and only force and terror
can break its stranglehold. I tell you, the Nazi propaganda,
properly applied, can make an entire people see heaven as
hell, and the most miserable life a paradise on earth. The
Jewish Jehovah must be eliminated! How can anyone call
him a god of right or might, when in the World War he
gave the victory to second-rate nations, like the corrupt
and effeminate French, the stupidly blundering Judaized
English?"

Something echoed in my mind, a text I had heard Pastor
Griinecke preach from in Basle. "Whom the Lord loveth,
he chasteneth," I murmured, without thought.

Hitler's hand slapped down on the table beside him, until
a little bronze replica of the Wingless Victory toppled to
the floor. "But not the German god, God in heaven, no!

OF ADOLF HITLER 73

Not the ancient Jewish Jehovah, either. It was victory he
gave," — absently he picked up the dented bronze, and re-
placed it, where it wavered a little giddily from its now
unsteady base — "victory, and not chastisement. The con-
quest of Canaan . . . the pacification of the world, under
David and Solomon . . . the bloody exploits of the Mac-
cabees: they were not then pacifists. But they surrendered
being men, to become Marxists and conspirators. And then,
as if they had not caused enough trouble with their cir-
cumcised Jehovah, they take a Jewish bride, and suddenly
she is discovered pregnant by the Holy Ghost — ghost
stories, to startle children with — and so we have Jesus
Christus, whom Catholics and Protestants alike worship.
A Jew — a Jewish bastard! The Jews are right, he was the
first Communist; never think that that plague started with
hairy old Karl Marx. God, what a tragedy that Nordics
worship an illegitimate Jewish god, instead of a German
redeemer, a Nordic savior!"

I answered him thoughtfully. "I met a Nazi once, in
Lubeck, who said that you would redeem the Fatherland."
I did not add, which had been a fact, that I saw him given
a black eye for it by a Centrist.

His face seemed transfigured. "In the end, yes. It must
be so. National Socialism must be our religion; and our
Herr god, Germany. "We will have no foreign pope, no
Jewish Bible. We will have a German church, as we will
find a German redeemer. Ach, this bastard Jewish religion!
I myself, I am a heathen; and so I am bound to be, as a
German, devoted to extirpating from all of life this stain
of Jewry. I know no more heinous crime that the interna-
tional Jew has committed, than Judaizing the truth of the

74 THE STRANGE DEATH

redeemer god who is still to come; and making us bow
before an Asiatic mongrel, instead of a Nordic deity!"

"The case is strong against them," I said reflectively.
More than ever I was proud of my retentive memory, my
quick observation, my natural mimicry. All this I would
write down in the tablets of my mind, the words, the chain
of thoughts, the intonations, the facial expressions, the
very tricks of finger-twitching. It would not be hard to be
Adolf Hitler. He was so extreme, so all sharp edges and no
blunted, curved mannerisms. He was hacked out with an
ax, and no plane used thereafter.

All this might be true; how was I to know? He believed
it, it was part of his soul, that much at least was clear. But
I remembered a kindly old Jewish tailor in Passau, and a
wise Jewish doctor who had treated my uncle's family in
Niirnberg, and several Jewish professors at Basle who had
done more than one big favor for me, when I needed them
most.

He must have read my uncertainty. "You will meet
Julius Streicher. There is the man who knows all that they
are! It is worse than I tell you, Little Adolf — far worse!
There are things too ghastly to talk about in public; you
will get a hint of them from Streicher. Yet, with a mind as
clean as his, how can he more than hint what is indecent
beyond words? Your imagination must fill in, from the
clean words, the foulness beneath. Ah, my imagination
can! I wake up in the silent watches of the night and
writhe with horrid excitement from some unspeakable rape
of a Nordic child, some ghastly debauching of a Nordic
daughter or wife by one of the detested Jewish swine. And
you, never miss an issue of his Der Stiirmer. It tells as
much truth as he dares put in print, to avoid a charge of

OF ADOLF HITLER

75

flagrant and public indecency. This story he has not dared
print yet — but he will, he will!" Hitler's eyes gleamed with
fanatical intensity. "Five years ago, in Germany itself, the
little four-year-old son of a Nazi father and his devoted
wife suddenly disappeared. It took three years for Stretch-
er's investigators to find out the facts; and then, they had
to torture a Jewish girl whom they had suspected of being
there, before she confessed to the truth — torture her almost
to the point of death. They had this Jewish harlot stripped
naked, bound to a huge table; they had applied lighted
matches to the soles of her feet and she still would not con-
fess, and finally they pulled out one toenail with pliers,
yes. And then, she told the truth, to save the rest of her
body. She admitted the worst that they asked her — that
she had been present when the little boy was bound down,
and his throat cut, and all the other awful ritual gone
through with. And an orgy of lust followed it — she ad-
mitted even this, when they put the pliers to the second
toenail!"

"What happened to the girl?" I asked.

He snapped his fingers. "It makes what difference? Only
last month Der Stiirmer had a more hideous story — of Jew-
ish men and boys deliberately enticing and corrupting little
blonde German girls to cater to the unnatural lusts they
have made so prevalent in Berlin and Vienna; actually rap-
ing them, when they have the opportunity; and, worst of
all, initiating blonde Nordic women into orgies of lust that
jrival the orgies of Messalina and Lucretia Borgia. Do you
wonder that Germany must extirpate them; and that it is
my task, and your task, and the Nazi task, to rid the fair
Fatherland, indeed the world, of this hideous plague!"

Slowly I caught fire from his fanaticism. "It can be a

7 6 THE STRANGE DEATH

matter of time only. Though, as I heard you say, you have
not the whole power yet. . . ."

"Leave that to Goebbels; he will arrange it." He paced
thoughtfully up and down the room. "Sometimes I won-
der if Arno Schickedanz is not right. You have not read his
Sozialparasitismus im Volkerleben, no? You must master
the folkic literature; it is the duty of every Nazi, every
German — they will be the same, soon," he smiled proudly.
"He says that the Jew is not a human being, not kin to
the rest of us, at all; that he is a parasite on the human
body, akin to the scientifically established parasites on all
animal and plant life. It seems incredible; but science has
established stranger things. It would simplify a lot." He
slumped back in his chair, his face taut and wondering.
Then he sprang to his feet, with a burst of wild energy.
"And I have told the Party comrades that, if they let our
revolution fail, I will blow out my own brains — for that I
have my own revolver always handy, in the top drawer of
my desk! Gregor Strasser used to go frantic, when I would
threaten it. When I purged him from the party, for the
Judas he is, something — I forget what — made me threaten
to commit suicide again. Oh, if they would not let my will
be the Party's will, as it is bound to be." He stared fiercely
at me. At my nod, he continued. "It was Goebbels who
was so upset, this time. He said there would be no Party,
with no Hitler. Let them heed well what I say, then!" He
subsided again into his chair.

Blonda, his pet police bitch, laid her huge head in his lap,
and sniffed luxuriously. Hitler's strong nervous hands
stroked the hair of her head rhythmically. "Sweetheart,"
he said, "you understand — you know more than all the
Judenscbwein in creation. You are wise, Blonda, darling —

OF ADOLF HITLER

77

you accept the aristocratic principle in nature, the eternal
privilege of force and strength. The Jew denies all this, in
that blind worship of majorities called democracy, the dead
weight of sheer numbers alone. Out of democracy comes
the hideous disease called Marxism, a world pestilence
whose final form is that ultimate putrescence, the parlia-
mentary system. If the Jew with his Marxian creed con-
quered the nations of the earth, his crown of victory would
be the funeral wreath of the human race; and I tell you,
my Little Adolf, the planet would drive through the ether
once again empty of mankind, as it did so many millions
of years ago. Do you wonder that I say I would kill myself,
rather than let this happen — rather than see the German
race perishing under the Jewish diseases of democracy, and
Marxism, and the parliamentary system? In fighting these,
I am carrying out the will of the Almighty Creator, I am
acting as God himself!"

"I did not know, I did not know," I said humbly. "And
even democracy the detested Jew is responsible for!"

"But naturally: it is an evil, and the Jew is the root of
all evils. You did not know; but my Blonda knew." His
ytrong ryhthmic caresses had roused the bitch now to a low
excited rumble of delight. "In the old days, sweetheart,"
his eyes poured passion into the widened, adoring eyes of
the bitch, "I would have fed the Jews alive to you, and to
Muck, the Wolf, and the rest, — one at a time, until the
last of them was gone. So the Spaniards did with the In-
dians in the Americas, until again the land was fit for man
to dwell in. I think Goering might do it now; I know
Streicher might. . . . No, there are slower, better ways.
Aha!" as there was a peremptory knock on the door.

7 8 THE STRANGE DEATH

An orderly entered, clicked his heels together, while his
arm slashed forward in a stiff gesture. "Heil Hitler!"

More negligently the Leader rose, clicked his heels awk-
wardly, saluted with a casual arm that did not quite
straighten out. "Heil Hitler!" he responded.

I rose to my feet, and gave the salute and the response
also.

Blonda settled herself again on the floor at his feet, her
eyes liquid with adoration.

The orderly looked with startled suspicion from the
Leader to me. I turned my back discreetly.

"You are wanted at conference, Excellency," he said.
His voice shook with uncertainty.

"Get a sjambok for this new bodyguard," snapped out
the Leader's voice. He turned to me when the orderly had
departed, with a warm smile. "You're one of my body-
guard now; and I have them all equipped with sjamboks —
hippopotamus whips, gentle little weapons that can brain a
man with one blow. So, if ever a Jew comes near you. . . .
— And a revolver, too, when one is needed. But, Little
Adolf, we must hide your face, and soon. They must not
think that I am quintuplets running all over the Chan-
cellery. Wait here; I will have Goebbels attend to that
quickly."

He swung abruptly on his heels, and left the room. The
room was empty when he had gone out.

OF ADOLF HITLER

79

CHAPTER V

THE SIGN FROM HEAVEN

BEFORE nightfall of that day, my hair was dyed the
precise shade of Hitler's; and weekly, to the day on
which I write this, it has been so dyed. But over it, at first,
an off-color wig was fitted, and wax was inserted up the
nostrils, until I resembled the Leader even less than Julius
Shreck, his chauffeur, and one other of his doubles. At a
moment's notice I could remove these, and be the Leader
in the flesh. I have burned these, now, for good; there will
never be need for them again.

But even in those days when I would have to remove
them at the bidding of the Leader or any of the inner
group of the Party, they insisted that I alone had his voice,
his precise face; I alone must be ready to speak even, in
his place, if need arose. It was this which admitted me to
strange councils in the month that followed my entry into
the Chancellery. More than these, however, I treasured the
daily hours with the Leader himself, in which I absorbed
more and more of his ideas, his fanaticism, his intonations,
his mannerisms; or the wild excited dashes by automobile,
disguised as one of his bodyguard, through the cheering
thousands, in which I could watch his manner in public,
and hear his voice bringing balm to the torn hearts of
Germany.

8o

THE STRANGE DEATH

It was during that first month, too, that first I appeared
in public as the Leader. It had been planned to have him
lay a wreath on the tomb of the sainted Nazi martyr,
Horst Wessel. At the last minute, as we were about to
start, came dispatches from several of the Rhine cities, that
I could see disturbed him very much. "You must stay and
decide what we are to tell them," insisted Goebbels, with
a harassed look. "Let the wreath be sent; it will do as
well."

The Leader rose magnificently to the situation. He beck-
oned me to my feet, with his own hands he removed the
wig from my head, he stood in front of me and gave the
salute with more energy than I had ever seen him, and
cried "Heil Hitler!"

In superb arrogance I returned the salute, and more
lackadaisically I gave the answering "Heil Hitler!"

"I" with a grin toward me the Leader spoke, "will lay
the wreath on the tomb, which will release this astral body
to do as you will about the dispatches, Goebbels. Little
Adolf is at the service of the Party, and Germany!"

I removed the wax from my nostrils, I reached with a
smile for his dogwhip, I threw out my chest, and walked
out of the door, Adolf Hitler in the body, redeemer of the
Fatherland. It had ceased to be a masquerade; I had come
to my destiny at last.

On the way to the tomb, I sat beside Bruckner, with
Schaub and another bodyguard behind me, and of course
faithful Julius Schreck driving. None of them knew of the
substitution, not even Bruckner. At first, my heart
thumped a little more loudly than usual, as increasingly I
saw Germany lined up on both sides of me, saluting me as
the savior of the Fatherland. This I quieted at last, and was

OF ADOLF HITLER 81

my own dominant self by the time we reached the tomb.
The vast crowd assembled here stood in reverent silence as,
every step of my progress up the cleared area protected by
machine guns, I marched up the steps of the tomb itself,
and deposited the wreath on the grave of the great Party
martyr. A tear dropped from my eye as I straightened up,
heart exalted: so might every son of the Party and the
Fatherland die!

I turned and faced the mighty gathering again. The
hands of all flashed up in salute, and every voice thun-
dered forth a "Heil Hitler!"

I drew my shoulders back, thrust out my chest, let my
arm rise with the proper nonchalance to the salute, and
responded with that hail that all the centuries will repeat:
"Heil Hitler!"

But here was the chairman of arrangements, lifting up
before me a microphone. "Just three minutes, my Leader,"
he reminded me.

Good God in heaven, there was to be this word to all
Germany and the world, and Goebbels and the rest had
forgotten it entirely!

The emergency, the momentary crisis, did not find me
lacking. For this I had prepared and schooled myself, in
the long night hours alone. "My friends, my Party com-
rades," sonorously the opening rolled out, "I greet you in
the name of a reawakened, rearisen and resurrected Ger-
man Fatherland!" It was to a hailstorm of applause every
other word came. "We are met at the tomb of the Known
Soldier of the Party, the great-hearted and great-souled
hero and martyr, Horst Wessel. He gave his life for his
Fatherland in his heroic conflict with the forces that poison
and destroy — the three-fold hydra-headed monster of

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THE STRANGE DEATH

Judaism, Marxism, and democracy! The Jew is the root of
all evil." How beautifully it all came back to me, words
my Leader himself had used, words that as the Leader my-
self I was speaking out of my heart and soul to all Ger-
many, to today and to unborn tomorrows as well. "He
invented democracy, and spread it, as he spread the other
taints of civilization, over the unsuspecting world. Out of
this vile nightsoil came the poisonous plant of Marxism,
that threat at the manhood of every man, the chastity of
every woman, in the Fatherland, and in the rest of the
world! Out of this sprang the monstrosity of filth and fire,
the parliamentary system — " Could I forget the glowing
golden words of my Mein Kampf, that decalogue for today,
that Bible for all tomorrows? " — and it is to the destruc-
tion of that that we pledge here our bodies, our hearts,
our souls, and all our futures! Not till the last Marxist has
been strangled in the entrails of the last Jew will our efforts
cease! Party comrades, Heil Hitler!" It was a glorious
speech, and a more glorious ending. They went frantic
with adoration. One girl broke through the cordon of
Blackshirts toward me, and I am sure it was no more than
to kiss my hand that she wanted. But the magnificent sons
of the Fatherland rose to the crisis, and I was quite inter-
ested, as I marched back to the car, in all that was dis-
played when a firm hand ripped off her waist, pulling her
back into line. To the magnificent strains of the Horst
Wessel hymn the cavalcade of cars started again, and passed
slowly through the frantically cheering thousands by the
tomb, and so back through the packed passionate streets to
the Chancellery again.

I marched up the steps of the building, returning every
salute and "Heil Hitler!", and even saluting places where

OF ADOLF HITLER 83

a salute should have come from. I was striding as I came
into the conference room where Goebbels, Goring, the
other Party leaders and the Leader himself were sitting
back, smiling triumphantly over having solved the tangled
snarl of the last minute dispatches.

"You were magnificent, my Leader," said Goebbels, sa-
luting me with the friendly smile of a hungry python.

"You were too damned good," said Hitler. "Hereafter,
why should I speak at all?"

But his eyes smiled, and I saluted him with all my soul
and passed into the anteroom to become the unnoticed
bodyguard again. Yet there had been a grandeur in that
moment that I knew would rouse even my Leader to higher
heights. I had not been rehearsing to myself for nothing.

Even more interesting, during that passionate tug-and-
strain month, were certain other conferences, especially late
at night, to which even the Leader was not bidden. Usually
it was his regular little camarilla, the huge ox-like Goring,
the sick-eyed little vulture Goebbels, the sly-eyed rowdy
Captain Roehm, stiff Erik von Arnheim, Major Generals
Heines and Ernst, and one or two more.

"He is still Adolf Legalite," sneered Karl Ernst, one mid-
night about the middle of February. "Three seats in the
cabinet! Herr Gott, I talked myself hoarse, after the Old
Bull first refused to appoint him Chancellor, urging putsch,
putsch, putsch! What good did it do? If he fought it then,
he is frantic against it now."

"There are those who went through the Beer Hall Putsch
without a wound," said Roehm, in contemplative remi-
niscence. "The Leader was wounded in his soul. Just as well
recognize it, that is his nature till death: never again arms,
when craft will win." He considered the ceiling thought-

8 4

THE STRANGE DEATH

fully. "How young we all were in those days, how confi-
dent of ourselves, how sure the world was a ripe plum
ready to drop into our upturned hands! You weren't there,
Little Adolf," he turned to me indulgently. "But you have
a right to live in the memory of great dead hours, as we do.
That fight was won, Little Adolf, when my Storm Troop-
ers captured the meeting, with steel helmets and Maxim
guns at the doors, at every window. So proudly the Leader
sprang on the table and fired two shots into the ceiling! Go
to the Burgenbraukeller, across Isar, look at the ceiling,
and there the holes are, to this day! 'Fellow Germans, the
National Revolution has begun! Six hundred armed men
cover the hall!' "

"Less five hundred and fifty," sneered Goring. "If we
had been six hundred, they would not have plugged me so
the next day. I count." His hand stroked his hiked Cru-
sader's sword. I had heard of the huge headsman's sword
behind his desk against a velvet curtain in his home.

"Ach, forget your damned accuracy, Herr Minister."
His voice was electric: " 'Hitler — Ludendorff — Poehner —
the new government — Hoch!' It worked like magic. Kahr,
Seisser, Lossow, he backed them into the anteroom, the
government of Bavaria, if you please, lined up against the
wall! I took the platform, though speaking is not my first
love; and I told the amazed audience what glories we
would bring, while he fought for Germany against those
traitors. The Leader lifted his revolver against the three
of them: 'I have here four bullets — one for you, Gustav
von Kahr; one for you, Seisser; one for you, General von
Lossow — and the last for myself, if you do not join us, and
save Germany!' It was persuasion enough; they joined us.
But Lossow's adjutant had escaped, and roused von Danner.

OF ADOLF HITLER 85

We trusted the three turncoats, the more fools we. If we
had only been wise enough to keep watch on them! By
morning they had turned again, and the putsch was a
corpse. Even at that, Herr Minister, we marched in, eh,
seven thousand strong, Ludendorff and the Leader in the
lead. . . . And then, the volley from the police. . . .
Ludendorff arrested, the man arm-in-arm with Hitler
plunked full of lead, the Leader on the ground with his
shoulder dislocated, his bodyguard's body plugged with
eleven bullets, Ludendorff's valet with his head half ripped
off. ... So it ended. And so we have Adolf Legalite. I,
for one, am for the putsch still. What fun is there in gov-
ernment, if there are not skulls to crack? But I can still
understand."

"You understand," said Goebbels icily, "just where it
has gotten us, this damned legalism. There are six hun-
dred seats in the Reichstag. We need a majority. We have
scarce two hundred fifty."

"I thought we had a Propaganda Bureau," said von
Arnheim, with a little sneer.

"There are one hundred Communist seats," growled '
Goring. "I count better, when I have them all in jail. Give
me my way, and those that are not in the hospital have
made their choice between cremation and burial. I still say
they are all trying to escape from something; let me turn
my guns on them!"

"We are all agreed, no, that this is no time to confine
ourselves to political action?" asked Karl Ernst ponder-
ously. "Except in the expanded sense it is used in the
United States of America, where riots and shootings keep
away unsympathetic voters?"

"But, certainly!" said Goebbels irritably. "Leave it to

86

THE STRANGE DEATH

speeches and votes, and in 1990 we are still campaigning
for a majority. "We have got to teach the German people
what they want, is it not so?"

"This should be an election by the free choice of the
German people," said von Arnheim suavely. "Any Ger-
man fit for the suffrage is a Party member. Therefore it is
our duty to see that their will is carried out. It will take a
little direct action to arrive at this important result. Only,
■what direct action?"

"Kick the Communists on the rump," said Goring ear-
nestly. "My boots are spiked."

"The spikes are blunt," pointed out Karl Ernst quietly.
"You raided the Karl Liebknecht house, their headquarters,
eh? You gave us your word you'd find proof of a Jewish
conspiracy to rock the world. I laugh till I am sick. You
find Sunday School lessons and pamphlets denouncing
Marx, and nothing else. And 'Heil Goring' on your picture,
framed on the wall — though I will admit they had splat-
tered it with filth." This man especially fascinated. me.
There were rumors enough about Captain Roehm's per-
sonal life, and he had admitted the truth of most of them.
He avoided women, yes, and he did not avoid men. But
there were facts common to all about Karl Ernst. He had
been for years a waiter in a low homosexual bar and res-
taurant in West Berlin, and he was admittedly Roehm's
chief pet. I did not like the way he looked at Goebbels and
Goring. I did not like the way any of them looked at each
other. Only when they looked at Hitler was there some-
thing I could applaud.

"Maybe your boots are spiked," sneered Goring. "Or
would you take them off and attack each Communist in
pajamas?"

OF ADOLF HITLER

87

"Maybe you simply don't understand matters above
your head," said Ernst heatedly. ""What are you, a mar-
riage-broker or a soldier?"

"I know what I'm not" said Goring brusquely. "A
pervert —

"Ach, an old woman's kaffee-klatsch," said Goebbels
irritably. "Will you two never grow up?"

"One of us has," said Goring, frowning angrily. But, as
always, the little schemer quieted him. "Listen to me, then
— when I talk, it has meaning. I must have them all in jail,
these Communists; and I will. The hospital and the ceme-
tery you veto. Be it so. The only thing left is, why do I
arrest them?"

Erick von Arnheim smiled suavely. "Now we are get-
ting somewhere. After all, our life's work is not to pick
flaws in each other's footwear. Captain Goring will arrest
the Communist deputies — good. Surely we can find some
good reason!" He considered it thoughtfully. "An attempt
to assassinate the Leader — the bullet misses — the cowardly
Communist assassins are all jailed. Reason enough, ready
made for you! Why not?"

"Bravo!" said Goebbels swiftly. "That is worthy of us.
We all rally to save Germany's redeemer. Genius, Erik,
positive genius! Heil Hitler!" But there was no kindliness
in his tones.

"Your genius will put the Leader in the cemetery," said
Goring abruptly. "Suppose the bullet does not miss!"

"Give 'em Little Adolf to shoot at," said Goebbels, with
an unfriendly look at me, as at any new favorite of the
Leader. I think, too, he sensed how little love I had for his
waspish soul. "Then there is no harm done, however the
bullet goes. We inform the world the noble leader is

88

THE STRANGE DEATH

wounded, but so superficially; jail the Communist rats;
and all is won."

"Parteigenosse" I snapped it out in Hitler's best voice,
"that is not worthy of you. Heil Hitler!"

They all stiffened, and then relaxed.

"Clown!" sneered Goring. "You will become as bad as
Putzi, the insane ape."

"But it is a thought," insisted Ernst. "The Communist
I select for the job will miss, I'll see to that."

"Ass," sneered Goring. "Where did you learn Party tac-
tics? What then if he does miss? We have advertised to the
world that the Leader is to be shot at, no? 'Hit the nigger
baby and get a cigar.' No. The idea is a boomerang. For
your information, Fraulein Ernst, a boomerang is a
weapon that gives you concussion of the brain next. Start
a thing like this, and sooner or later a man will shoot and
not miss."

"And Little Adolf is rather new on the job, to risk his
life," said Heines, with a smirk. "No, I agree this time with
the Reichsminister. There must be some better way than
that. Jail them, yes; but, — for what?"

I believe that this meeting ended with nothing further
accomplished. But we were together the next night, and
the night after that. On one of these nights, it was Goring
who brought in a counter proposal. "What about a bomb,
exploded in one of the ministries? I have no portfolio; it
would not jar me. Say the Interior — that concerns every
German closest. Comrade Frick could be a martyr, no?
You give me the event, I'll do the jailing."

"Somebody always gets caught when you fool with
bombs," insisted Ernst. "Stalin himself may have thrown
them, in his younger days; but not our milksop German

OF ADOLF HITLER 89

Communists. The days of the Spartacists are over. Besides
— one ministry — who cares? We might do better to toss all
the Communists into the German Ocean. I have a better
idea. We could shoot at the Old Man — "

"We all take a shot then," grinned Goring. "Not 3
bad idea, Karla."

Ernst flushed and shot a look of hatred at his tormentor.
"I hear your last levee ended in a charming orgy, Herr
Minister."

Erik von Arnheim shook an annoyed head. "You are all
adolescent, whenever you get together. Grow up, babies!"

Goebbels raised a pacifying hand. "You know, a fire is a
lovely thing. It's one of the four original elements — fire,
earth, air, and water. We can't achieve a landslide, or a
hurricane, or a flood; but a fire is different."

"The President's Palais!" suggested Roehm swiftly.

"The Speaker's home," said Ernst, with an angry scowl.

Goebbels again had his hand insistently quieting them.
"I have often thought what an old wooden frame the
Reichstag Building is."

"God in heaven, and we look for genius anywhere else!"
Goring's huge fist thundered down on the deal table. "It is
colossal!"

"Remember it in your will," said Goebbels sharply. "It
spreads from the conference room of the Communist depu-
ties. We apprehend the miscreants, and are the saviors of
parliament!"

I listened with keenest attention now. History was being
made, a new and spiritual Germany was arising phoenix-
like from the flames of conspiracy and treachery, here in
this acrid conference-room, in the smoke-laden air, while
the Leader and the rest of the world slept. What at first

90

THE STRANGE DEATH

had seemed to me a group of assorted boors and thugs,
gathered to plan some crime that would eliminate a rival
political party and so gain for themselves control of Ger-
many, appeared in its true light at last: statesmanlike
patriots, using the surest and speediest means to the most
glorious of all ends, the resurrected Fatherland.

"We apprehend the miscreants," sneered Goring. "But
I will forget that. And how are you going to get inside the
Communist conference room?" They were off now on a
long and bitter squabble that lasted a full hour, with in-
sults and vituperation flying: but all for the sake of the
Fatherland, all to make sure that duly elected Communists
were not allowed to sit, much less to vote, but should be
jailed; that the real will of the German people might be
expressed, by having us Nazis the clear and overwhelming
majority. Let the Jews and the nations they gull, worship
the silly result of a ballot; we had discovered that the peo-
ple need to be led, and that in the hour of need the divinely
inspired Leader will not fail them. Out of this argument,
the final brilliant method decided upon was suggested by
Goring. His palace as Speaker of the Reichstag was directly
across the street from the Reichstag building. He had dis-
covered a secret tunnel connecting the two buildings, a
part of the original central heating system. Who else in all
Berlin but we knew of it? Thus actual access to the doomed
building was ridiculously simple.

At the last conference of all, Captain Roehm electrified
us by the most magnificent contribution yet made to our
patriotic scheming. "Gentlemen, I even have your Com-
munist villain, who will actually set the fire for us! My
men have reported his actions. He has already set three
small fires in the city, and goes around maundering that

OF ADOLF HITLER

9i

God named him to burn the world for its injustices. He's
a poor, half -blind, Dutch halfwit named Marinus van der
Lubbe, once a Communist in Holland, or something like it.
"We may conveniently forget that they expelled him for
f eeble-mindedness, and see to it that his pockets bulge with
everything from the Communist Manifesto to Genosse
Stalin's latest edict!"

"He can be hired?" barked out Goring. "Most Com-
munists are damned unreasonable, that way."

"Better still, he can be steered," said Roehm suavely.
"Leave that to me. The election is March 4th. Perhaps a
week before. . . ."

At nine-fifteen P. M. on the icy night of February 27,
1933, smoke and flames burst from the windows of the
Reichstag Building, in the core of Berlin, near the lower
end of Unter den Linden. Within ten minutes, the fire
departments were fighting the fire, and a police cordon
held the blazing inferno incommunicado.

And now Roehm's masterpiece developed. A man sham-
bled vacantly out of the building. He smiled happily when
they arrested him. "Fire? Sure, I set it! I went in with
household fire-lighters, ja. I piled tablecloths and curtains,
and even — see! — took off my shirt, and tore it into strips
for tinder. I lit one fire, two fires, three fires, and suddenly
the whole central chamber is one beautiful blaze! I set it,
all by myself!"

Within the hour, Goring and Hitler were on the scene
of the stupendous conflagration.

"It is the work of Communists!" said Goring emphat-
ically. "I will have the vile miscreants apprehended, at
once! Germany will show the swine that Moscow can no
longer rule the Fatherland!"

92

THE STRANGE DEATH

The perspiring Fire Chief saluted the Leader. "We have
saved the walls, Herr Chancellor; the rest is gutted."

"It is a sign from heaven," said Hitler, magnificent in
his understanding. "No matter what fire rages in her
bosom, Germany will stand firm to the end of time! Now
no one will prevent us from destroying the Communists
with iron fists."

Goring hurried out with a statement. The confessed
arsonist had a membership card in the Communist Party
on his person, and a leaflet urging Social Democrats and
Communists to unite. When the trial finally came around,
the evidence established, as a mere matter of fact, that he
had none of these; but the excitement of the triumphant
moment had inspired Goring to this bold masterstroke.
Meanwhile, he acted without delay. The one hundred Com-
munist deputies were jailed. Martial law was practically
proclaimed. Constitutional guarantees of individual liberty
were naturally shelved in this national emergency. A Com-
munist coup had been planned, it was revealed. The Nazi
orators went forth into the highways and byways, as
saviors of the country. "Only give us the votes!" they
demanded.

The response was magnificent — two hundred and eighty-
eight deputies, out of the five hundred still remaining.
Germany was saved!

Unfolkic elements in Berlin and Germany, and the
sceptical world outside, demanded, could Van der Lubbe
have done all this himself?

He must have had confederates, the Nazis shouted back
triumphantly: Communist confederates!

Yet the world grumbled. A building of stone and heavy
wood, the most prominent structure in Berlin — how could

OF ADOLF HITLER 93

anyone have transported inside the sulphur and other
chemicals, as well as the gasoline, through doors or win-
dows, without being apprehended? Had he indeed come
like Santa Claus down the chimney, maybe?

Again the masterstroke of Nazi shrewdness. At once the
authorities revealed the existence of the unsuspected tunnel
leading from Goring's backyard into the heart of the
building. No one could be so base as to imagine that anyone
but Communists could have thus sought to throw suspi-
cion on the Reichspraesident himself!

The second week in March, the Old Man spoke. He was
at last grateful to the Nazis as the saviors of Germany.
Hereafter, let the republican flag be forgotten. Public
buildings must display the old imperial standard and the
new swastika flag, the Hakenkreuz, in black on a white
background, designed in its every detail by Hitler himself.
We were riding on the crest at last; and we leapt to rivet
the chains of power so that no force could unseat us!
Within three weeks the Nazi government introduced and
passed the Law to Combat the Misery of People and Reich.
The Constitution of 19 19 was suspended: down with the
Jewish pestilences of democracy and parliamentary gov-
ernment! Hitler and his Nazi government were given dic-
tatorial powers for four years. Only the cabinet could
enact laws for the Reich. At last the German people had
spoken in their folkic pride and power!

Ernst Torgler, Communist Chairman of the Reichstag
deputies, surrendered to the police, demanding to be tried
on the ridiculous charge that Communists had had any-
thing to do with the fire. Aha, the government was more
than obliging. An observant Nazi waiter reported that
three Bulgarian Communists, Dimitrov, Tanev and Popov,

94

THE STRANGE DEATH

had acted suspiciously just before the fire. They were jailed
swiftly, and held firmly behind the bars until the trial
opened in early summer. Dimitrov offered countless wit-
nesses that he had been in Munich, not Berlin; on the night
of the 27th. The government promised him complete jus-
tice, and kept him in jail to insure it.

The Leader was very grieved at things that happened
in this hour of national strain and emergency. "It is un-
believable," he mourned to me one day in mid- June, "how
quick the world is to believe evil of us, or indeed of any of
the forces of good. Look at this mock trial, with mock
defendants, being held in London — as if the very name
Germany were not a synonym for justice! And the villain-
ous Brown Book, published abroad by renegade German
emigres, full of lies from start to finish! Ach, the Jewish
influence is everywhere. I have even seen the secret report
of the Deputy Oberfohren, one of von Papen's flunkies,
charging us with setting the fire! I wish he could be tried
for that."

"Why doesn't Goring arrest him?" I asked.

The Leader shrugged. "His flat has been combed. I am
informed that he has shot himself." At least, it became
clear that he was dead.

The trial reeked with lies, Hitler exclaimed to me petu-
lantly; it almost made one determine to abolish all trials.
Here was Van der Lubbe's lie that he had been with Nazis
the night before the fire. A gateman testified to the incred-
ible lie that Dr. Albrecht, a Nazi deputy, left the burning
Reichstag in great excitement as late as ten o'clock that
night, three-quarters of an hour after the fire had started!
One of Goring's own servants turned disloyal, and swore

OF ADOLF HITLER

95

to hearing mysterious sounds in the underground tunnel
for several nights before the fire.

The trial came to an end at last, a monument to ruthless
German justice. Van der Lubbe, clearly guilty of arson,
had his head chopped off with an ax — Goring contributed
this return to the old Germanic punishment as a more
salutary object lesson to evildoers. To the end, the halfwit
never communicated how the various chemicals and the
gasoline were transported into the building. The other
defendants were mercifully released, as there was no evi-
dence to hold them on. And so the folkic cause rolled ma-
jestically on, shrewd enough to use means like this to
combat the undoubted conspiracies of Jews, Marxists, and
inferior races against Nordic greatness.

To his death, it was thought wisest to keep the prac-
tical details of the business from the Leader. He was utterly
outraged at the publication of the letter with Karl Ernst's
name signed to it, that appeared first after the Purge. It
was dated June 3, 1934, and had been sent abroad, when
rumors of the impending vengeance of Hitler for his plot-
ting had reached him. It gave a very exaggerated picture
of the patriotic conferences of Goebbels, Goring, Roehm
and the rest, and boasted that he himself, with two of the
Storm Troopers, von Mohrenschild and Fiedler, had set the
fire. It was a definite and outrageous forgery, insisted the
Leader. I can add to that that Ernst was clearly boasting,
and that his part had entirely ended in the preliminary
discussions.

"Little Adolf," Goring remarked to me, in one of his
rare moments of semi-friendliness, "you will find that the
most salutary method of achieving law, order, and un-
swerving loyalty from the people is our Schrecklichheit,

9 6

THE STRANGE DEATH

which foreigners translate as frightf ulness, instead of firm-
ness. There is something lovely in cutting off a man's head
with the ax, and a woman's head even more impressive as
an example. In the first year I have returned to this splen-
did moral discipline, two hundred twelve men and women
have been beheaded. There will be more. Each of these
executions gives every loyal Nazi an upleaping of the heart.
I will see that at least five thousand men and women are
sterilized annually, to improve the Nordic stock.* These,
and the concentration camps, will teach a lesson Germany-
will not forget. The future is bound to show swift im-
provement."

The world knows how he understated the case.

* The actual figures, 1333-1937 reached only 12,863.

OF ADOLF HITLER

97

CHAPTER VI

THE VISITOR AT MIDNIGHT

IT was the last day of that June, 1933, a muggy, swel-
tering Friday evening, that I was poisoned. Never after
that did the Leader again allow me to be his food-taster.
Neither of us had taken the little ritual seriously, up to
that time. I am sure it was Goebbels who suggested it first;
he was always the brilliant schemer, envisaging a thousand
possibilities that the rest of us were inclined to ignore. The
Leader ate so simply that such a thing as poisoning seemed
impossible: an omelet, a few vegetables, and that was all.
I believe for this dinner Arthur Kannenburg himself had
come up from Munich, and had prepared this ragout of
eggs and vegetables as a special treat for the Leader. And
every attendant was a Nazi, and was watched by three or
four sets of eyes during every stage of the preparation of
the food. But the impossible happened, this once.

Herr Hitler served me first, then the other guests, and
himself the last. They were all talking so earnestly that
they postponed commencing the treat, while I was taking
the first few mouthfuls. Suddenly I felt a violent pain rip
my entire abdomen. I half rose from my seat, my face
pale and working. "I am not well. . . ."

"Don't touch that food!" Goebbels shot out of the
corner of his mouth. "Get the doctor quick please. . . ."

98 THE STRANGE DEATH

It was a close call, but he pulled me through. I was in
bed for more than three weeks, and it was other body-
guards that had to accompany the Leader wherever he
went. At least once Julius Schreck, his chauffeur, who was
almost a perfect double, appeared in a state procession for
him. I heard later that one assistant cook was beheaded for
the crime. He was very probably guilty, Goring told me,
although there was no evidence precisely connecting him
with the poisoning. But he had once worked for Jews. And
two scullery maids were spayed as an example to the others
to be more careful. Even Bertrand Russell, he pointed out
to me, had prophesied in his Icarus that the time would
come when rebels and political enemies would be sterilized.
It was surprising, he said, how even the English could have
a thought at times.

During the last week of my invalidism, they came in and
told me what was happening. Most of all of the imperti-
nence of this Dimitrov during the trial, especially toward
Goring. It was additional evidence how unwise trials were.

Things were happening that I wished I could have taken
part in. We had promised, in that mad election campaign
just after the Reichstag fire three months before, all that
Germany needed. . . . To put the unemployed back to
work; to abolish the entire Versailles Treaty; to return the
land to the people, abolish interest, make industry social;
to eliminate the octopus-like department stores, clearly a
den of Jewish capital; to regain for Germany the Polish
Corridor raped from her by the democratic nations in a
jealous effort to split Prussia into two parts; and lastly to
achieve the all-important Anschluss with Austria. These
were far-reaching steps which required deliberation.

But there was one thing, at least, that we could do at

OF ADOLF HITLER 99

once: and that was to move against the real menace in
Germany, the Jews. Goring and Streicher put their bitter
heads together and much progress was made. I must admit
that the SS troops had little to do with the personal attacks
on Jewish men — the women were only rarely bothered, due
to the innate Nordic chivalry; but quite a few of the
impetuous Brownshirts did their personal bit against the
menace.

And wise and statesmanlike steps were taken, as well. A
boycott was proclaimed against Jewish businesses, doctors,
and lawyers, first of all. The real German people entirely
ceased doing business with the little Jewish shops. It was
too much, of course, to expect them to discontinue trading
at the department stores, for these gave bargains. The boy-
cott at least served to waken the people against their real
enemy. A strict definition of non-Aryan was established —
one whose great-grandfather had been Jewish. It was
adjudged that even one-eighth Jewish blood prevented a
person from being the possessor of real Nordic blood.
There were those who held that any kinship with the Jew-
ish Adam should be eliminated as rigidly. All non-Aryan
officials and honorary officials were summarily dismissed as
unworthy of holding office under the German Reich. The
schools and universities were increasingly cleansed of them.
Movements were started to ban them from the stage, the
movies, journalism and music. They had for too long been
too prominent in these, falsely representing real Aryan
culture to the world; at length this was terminated. Tens
of thousands of them were, for their own protection,
placed in concentration camps, and, as soon thereafter as
it was practicable, the crude condition of these camps was
remedied. Julius Streicher was magnificent in his aggressive

too

THE STRANGE DEATH

nationalism. The month after my recovery, he ordered two
hundred and fifty Jews who had been arrested to pluck a
field free of grass with their teeth, and saw personally
that his order was carried out. It was incidents like this
that showed Nordic idealism at its greatest.

Greatest of all, as a symbol of Germany re-arisen, all
books polluted by Jewish authorship were banned from
libraries, and public bonfires were held in which race-guilty
books were committed to the purging flames. The Leader
himself assured me that this step was necessary. I had, of
course, grown up in a benighted period when the writings
of Heine, Marx, Freud, Adler, Thomas Mann, Feucht-
wanger, Einstein and so many more were regarded as
distinct contributions to German culture; it was only now
that they were recognized as Jewish propaganda, polluting
the pure stream of Nordic thought. One bitterly reaction-
ary paper, obviously inspired by the discredited militarist
machine of von Papen and Hugenburg, called this a return
to medievalism, and said that the expulsion of the Jews
from Spain in 1492 had bled the nation white, and reduced
it to the impotence in which it still stagnated. This paper
was promptly suppressed as non-Ayran and a warning
against any such perversion of history was featured in all
the Party organs.

Even better news was brought to me, that conduced to
my speedier recovery. On July 14, Bastile Day in France,
the National Socialist German "Workers' Party was officially
declared the only political party in Germany. This step
extremely clarified the political situation. Without legal
opposition, it became possible for the Nazis to proceed to
their work of redeeming Germany from her enemies at
home and abroad in far freer fashion. In a well organized

OF ADOLF HITLER

IOI

political state there is room for only one political party:
the party that stands for the realization of the national
ideals, without contamination from international and other
destructive forces. There can be no second school of
thought on a matter as simple as this; every progressive
nation in the world has adopted it. It has long been the law
in Italy, which has imitated Germany in all of its totali-
tarian steps, for all that chronologically it claims a slight
advantage in preliminary experimentation; and in Russia,
a country with a Judaized ideal, but akin in many ways to
the superior German technique. It is not true of the second-
rate world powers, the democracies, England, France, and
the United States of America. Here harmful party conflict
is allowed to obscure the national ideals, and the result is
divided counsels, paralysis in an emergency, and ruinous
inner conflicts. It heartened every right-thinking German
to know that the Fatherland had at last enacted this most
beneficent governmental policy. Most of the other Ger-
mans, for their own protection, were soon placed in protec-
tive custody in concentration camps, which gave unexam-
pled opportunity for reflection and conversion.

The doctor promised that I could leave my bed in one
week after this law went into effect. At midnight, on the
20th, the door of my bedroom in the Chancellery opened
quietly, in darkness, and closed as quietly.

"Who's there!" I demanded.

A flashlight picked me out on the pillow. "Light the
bedlight!" whispered a voice. "Without outcry. I have a
revolver."

I will admit that I was startled. But I reflected at once
that this was some lark of one of the more ribald of the

102

THE STRANGE DEATH

party members who knew of my recovery and wished thus
to welcome me back to active service. I lit the light.

A tall man in a military cloak stood staring aloofly down
at me. His eyes were masked, his firm left hand had me
covered — the light, I noted, was in his right hand. He
extinguished it. "Lie still!" he said. "No harm is intended
to you. I have come to talk."

"Who are you?" I demanded. "After all, I have only to
push this button — "

"No one will answer it," he said. "I myself deadened the
bell with cotton. I have paid much to have this talk with
you, Herr Bauer. We will not be disturbed, do not worry.
Those higher up will see to that."

I had not heard the name I was born with for months,
and a strange thrill shivered through me. "Well?" I
demanded.

"May I sit?" He swirled his cloak over the back of a
chair and drew it close to where I lay. He wore the uni-
form of the Reichswehr, I saw at once, and the stripes of a
Captain. "I have been sent to talk to you," he said, "by
those who wish your own good."

"They do not wear masks," I pointed out.

"I will take it off, if you wish. You will not wish — yet."
His lips closed firmly, underneath the flimsy domino. "You
are alive," he pointed out.

"God be praised!" I said fervently.

"No one wished your death. Yet . . . you almost died."

"A cowardly attempt on the life of the Leader. . . ."

"Words may be defined in many different ways by many
different lexicographers. The jailing of a hundred Com-
munist deputies — it was hardly a synonym for bravery,
no? Nor the beating of unarmed Jews by armed Brown-

OF ADOLF HITLER 103

shirts, no? Nor Herr Hitler's throwing himself on the
ground so hard that he broke his shoulder, during the Beer
Hall Putsch, when the police opened fire — if we must an-
cient history remember, in this present."

"It is a lie!" I said with aggressive passion. "His arm
was locked with Dr. Scheubner-Richter's, and his dying
body falling to the ground pulled down the Leader as he
was about to charge!"

"So it has been said. I myself was there, and what I saw
I saw. The Bible was burned in the public square in Lubeck
only last week, as a Jewish book."

"Do you think a Nazi wrote it?" I demanded.

"No, God be thanked! Me, I am a Catholic. — And the
Lieder of Heine also. He was no Catholic. But I myself
love those Lieder."

"And you call yourself German!"

"Quaintly enough, I do. But enough of that. You are
alive, and the Leader too is alive, worse luck. Does it occur
to you that those who have failed the first time can still
count, and there will be a second, and a third, and so on up
the ordinals until there is the last?" His face grew wolf-
like, and menacingly neared me.

"There is the ax, for such attempts," I said fiercely.
"Any German who is so unpatriotic, so unnationalist — "

"He gave his word, your Leader, to von Papen, that he
would not upset the cabinet in which he was first named
Chancellor. How he kept his word history remembers yet.
What does history say of the man whose soul is rotten
with lying, as is this Herr Hitler's! One of these attempts,
my friend, will not fail. One man cannot set himself up to
be the people. The psychiatrists are kind when they call it

104 THE STRANGE DEATH

insanity. There is a Waterloo, and a St. Helena, and a

tomb of state after that, in every life."

"This is nonsense! You're trying to threaten — "

"I threaten nothing; I speak what will be. And, when

that is, my friend, what of you?"

I am afraid my eyes goggled stupidly. " — Of me?" I

echoed.

"You are Herr Hitler now, while he is alive, when it
suits his coward's soul. Like any Hollywood prima donna.
When he dies. ... It is worth thinking over, is it not?"

"If I could push this button now and call those of the
palace, and if you had anything to do with this cowardly
attempt — "

"Only to know of it in advance, my friend, and applaud
it, and mourn that it failed. So. Goring has chopped off the
head of one faithful Nazi cook, and had the ovaries of two
Nazi kitchen wenches removed. So. But in that hour, when
the attempt succeeds, perhaps you will not be sorry to see
me then."

"I will know you then," I said, raising my voice — it was
partly bluff, at that. But I recalled how he held his pistol
in his left hand. "I will denounce you — "

"Little Adolf!" he jeered. "But then, you may be Adolf,
rather, if you prefer. Remember that. All this is merely to
give you something to think of. When we are ready to
speak, we will speak. He walks in his sleep," jeeringly,
"for nights he cannot sleep, and other nights he wanders
around with a dazed look, like an imbecile, so, a sleep-
walker. You at least sleep soundly. Your conscience is
clearer. As for us, we do not burn Bibles and Heine. You
have had a nightmare." He rose menacingly, the pistol
threatening my mid-body. "You will forget this night-

OF ADOLF HITLER 105

mare, and tell not even your worser I. A nightmare. It is
already forgotten. So?"

"Maybe," I said, cowed by the unpleasant proximity of
that menacing revolver.

"Your word, Herr Bauer?"

"My word." It was more tactful to agree, at a moment
like that.

He swirled his cloak around him again. "You will see
me again," he said. "Pleasanter dreams."

And he was gone, the great door closing silently behind
him.

I pinched my left hand to make sure that it was no
nightmare. My swift "Ouch!" reassured me. Tall, clean-
shaven, a Reichswehr captain, left-handed. ... I must
keep my eyes open. But it might be taken for a nightmare,
if I reported it. And, after all, there were those higher up.
And what colossal nerve, to have come on me here in the
very Chancellery, even if the Leader was away! There
might be only one political party in my Germany; but
there were clearly those who were restive under it and
should be a nightmare to all Party members.

I decided to say nothing Until there was more to say.
I had given my word; there was no occasion yet to break it.
One thing only I did do. I made inquiries as to who had
been in charge of the guards of the Chancellery on the
night of July 20th. To my amazement, I discovered that
it was Erik von Arnheim. If this strange night visitor in
his black domino and his swirling cloak had not been
lying, and was indeed protected, it was by one high up
indeed.

I began to court von Arnheim a little more than for-
merely. In fact, I spoke to Herr Hitler himself about it.

io6 THE STRANGE DEATH

Would there be objection if I made a special study of
leaders of the Party, to keep him confidentially informed
of their real attitudes toward him?

Splendid, he agreed; he himself had done espionage work
once. Von Arnheim, by all means. "And his wife, too," he
said earnestly. "They are "trouble-makers ever, these
frauen. She has said friendly things about the Marxists.
Find out all you can about her."

"I pledge you my word, my Leader."

The opportunity was easy to make. He himself brought
it up. "The Leader says you are to take things easy for the
next couple of weeks, Little Adolf," he greeted me jovially
the very next day — I have wondered if the Leader himself
did not drop a hint of his wishes — "and I have a rather
amusing request to make of you. Frau von Arnheim has
heard just enough rumors of the cause of your illness to
be mad to meet you. Will you not dine with us tomorrow
evening?"

"It is permitted?" I must not let him know of my mis-
sion, or guess it.

"But yes. So long as you are merely one of the body-
guard, much is permitted. But we will take the little lady
aside and you will let her see the Leader in the flesh, no?"
He patted me amiably on the back. I nodded agreement.

I had heard much of the beauty of Ulrica von Arnheim
who had been married to the portly Major General only
three months now. She had been a young entertainer in a
Berlin night club when von Arnheim met her and inconti-
nently married her. I had heard, too, that she saw no reason
why she should not stand as high among the wives of the
members of the cabinet as Frau Magda Goebbels; and that
she had an exquisite voice, and a shrewd tongue. I looked

OF ADOLF HITLER 107

forward to meeting her, and the further opportunity of
studying her and her husband.

I was introduced to her as Herr Zeit, my usual name as
bodyguard. Of course, I wore my wig, and the wax up my
nostrils.

"There is some resemblance, Erik," she said, after study-
ing my features. There was obvious disappointment in her
voice. "But J thought . . ."

"Ach, but yes!" He watched me with amusement, as I
bowed stiffly and saluted her hand — her lovely warm little
hand, that soon enough I was to know so well. "Little
Adolf, we promised the little lady, no?" He winked fa-
miliarly at me.

I turned my back, and removed the wax from my nos-
trils. I slid off the wig and concealed it under my coat. One
swift gesture released the shock of dyed brown hair to just
where the Leader would have worn it. I turned sternly,
fanatic-eyed, to greet her.

She turned pale for a moment, her hands fluttering up
to her breasts. "Herr Fiihrer!" she gasped.

"Heil Hitler!" I gave it with just the proper amount of
sloppiness — the Schlamperei, the casual Austrian noncha-
lance that the Leader always shows.

"Ach, dear God, Erik, he's sweet! For a moment, I was
frightened. Come, little Fiihrer," she linked her arm in
mine, "we go in to dinner, no?"

The dinner was excellent: an admirable Leibfraumilch,
the fowl roasted to a turn, a sweet such as I had not had
for months, liqueurs, cigars. And most of all the lovely
woman presiding in the mellow candleglow beside me. I
relaxed as I had not done for months.

"There is too much going on behind the scenes, Little

108 THE STRANGE DEATH

Adolf," she said to me earnestly. "You did not hear the
Leader in Bad Reichenhall — you were . . . taken sick on a
Friday, and this was the Sunday following. I heard him.
Ugh! I shivered!" She closed her lovely eyes, her face
quivered. "Look! I am Hitler, now!" She mimicked to
perfection, with gamin grace: " 'I will crush, brutally and
ruthlessly, every attempt to overturn what we have accom-
plished. I will turn without mercy as well against what
they have the effrontery to call the Second Revolution.
Whoever lifts his hand against the National-Socialist State
I will hit hard, no matter where he stands in our coun-
sels!' " She turned impulsively to me. "But whom did he
mean? The reactionaries, — or us, whom they dare call the
National Bolshevists, merely because we insist that the
campaign pledges be fulfilled, and the Party achieve its
promised destiny!"

Von Arnheim shook his head, as if unsympathetic. As
for me, I shrugged. "But this is all above my head, lovely
Frau. I have been a sick man, remember." But my eyes
warmed toward hers the message that I was a sick man no
longer.

"Ulrica's a spitfire," said her husband indulgently.
"Goebbels she detests most of all. Yet it is a time. With the
Old Man sick — it is not admitted yet, of course. He hasn't
had his wits for months; he hasn't even his health, now.
An aged Robot for President! When he dies, who then will
be President? And, whoever is President, who then will be
Chancellor? One can hardly be Pooh-Bah here, holding
every portfolio."

"He will solve things in his own way, when the time
comes," I said.

Arnheim studied me closely. "Captain Roehm has his

OF ADOLF HITLER

eye on some job, I'm sure of it. It is not a small thing to be
the head of the Storm Troopers."

"I tremble for him," said Ulrica quietly. "I remember
how you told me, Erik, that Gregor Strasser was the Lead-
er's best friend, once. There is a fatality — "

Von Arnheim's hand went up in warning. "Little Adolf
is not a member of the family yet. That was before your
time, Herr Zeit," with a wink at me. "Yet Strasser was a
great man, yes. He had forty deputies in his pocket. He
headed the political organization. Yet here is how our
enemies work. Just before the Leader became Chancellor,
von Schleicher offered a coalition to Strasser, and he said
he would accept. Word of it was brought to the Leader.
He summoned all of us Nazi deputies together, Strasser
also. 'Every group of apostles has its Judas,' he announced,
eyes straight on Strasser. 'The Judas seeks to tar others
with his brush. Look, in my hand I have the very list of
the others that this Judas of ours names, as ready at this
moment to betray the Party and Germany! Shall I read
these names?' He paused impressively, and then was aflame,
'I will read them, though I read from the Party every
deputy. The first name on that list is Erik von Arnheiml'
He whirled on me. 'Are you a Judas to me, the Party, and
Germany?' I was on my feet in a flash. 'It is a lie! I have
no part with Party-comrade Strasser in any of his machina-
tions!' Nor did I. Friendly, yes; no more. Some of them —
I do not know." He shrugged sorrowfully. "But all of us
_ disowned him, as far as the Leader read. You know how
low he stands today. The Leader refused to shake hands
with him. If he did that to me, it is possible I would shoot
myself. He is still alive; and that is mercy, to a traitor.
Ach, but you yourself know it, Little Adolf; Captain

no

THE STRANGE DEATH

Roehm is the Leader's best friend. Yet that does not make
him traitor."

"There would be no Hitler, without Roehm," said
Ulrica, with a bitter little sigh. "I cannot believe what they
say about him — that he prefers men to women! It is not in
nature."

I kept my face immobile.

Her husband shrugged. "There are the letters from La
Paz. Forget them. He is sometimes too extreme, though.
After all, it is Marxism that we must eliminate from Ger-
many. Some of his Storm Troopers — "

The butler came to the door to summon my host to the
telephone. My hostess smiled more invitingly at me, with
a little mow of disappointment. "They are always after
him to do this or that. A man cannot have a simple eve-
ning at home with his wife and friends without some Party
business intervening. I need a cigarette to assuage my grief,
mon cheri."

I handed the packet toward her, rather intoxicated by
standing beside a lovely woman again, after these celibate
months. I could not help staring down at her daring, low-
cut gown. When I held the match to her, she linked her
little finger in mine, as if practiced. After all, she had been
an entertainer in a night club, I reflected, and such women
belong to the men able to pay their price.

I stood there staring down at her. If she had not been
the wife of one of the Party leaders, I knew that then and
there I would have sought to find out what were my
chances with her; and I have been told repeatedly by girls
and women that there is no lover like your German. I
started to move away, stifling my hunger, when a thought
struck me opportunely. Herr Hitler had said to find out all

OF ADOLF HITLER

hi

that I could about her. Could there be a better way? And
then I smiled wryly at myself: could it be merely my desire
that spoke, which I was intellectualizing as a Party assign-
ment? Behave, Max, I told myself. With some firmness I
started to move away.

She must have read the hunger in my eyes; she had no
doubt seen it often before, in the nightclub, and she knew
how to increase it, or watch it starve to death, if that was
her whim. At any rate, she smiled up over lowered lashes,
with more than a little encouragement. "You'll never
know what it is, being married to a Party bureaucrat,"
she said.

"I trust not," I laughed. "They do not call me Captain
Roehm."

"That's very naughty of you," she said, with a forgiving
smile. "He is of the real Party — the group they dismiss as
Left. I wish that Erik could see him as I do. He, alas, is
Right."

"I like Roehm immensely," I said. "For all the gossip,
he is a real man — and he simply worships the Leader. I,
I know."

"It is strange," she said slowly. "You are so entirely like
the Leader, outside; but, within yourself. ..." She
laughed lightly.

"Thank God, no," I said devoutly.

The husband's re-entrance interrupted her fresh peal of
laughter. "I cannot get Little Adolf to swear he is a virgin,
as Hitler is," she explained.

"Thank God for small favors," said her husband. But
he was frowning. "God's damnation, why must I have to
hurry off to the Chancellery at an hour like this? They
never strike a snag in Hamburg, or Koln, or, God forbid,

112

THE STRANGE DEATH

Kdnigsberg, but they call on me to straighten it out. Now
it's that embassy at Geneva that needs to have secret word
taken to; and of course I have to be the courier. And back
by way of Vienna and Prague. Adorable, I must miss three
or four nights of your company."

"I refuse to be lonely," Ulrica's little smile was sly. "I
will have Little Adolf dine with me again Monday, I
warn you, if you desert me."

"Not a bad idea, with these damned Brownshirts of
Roehm's thicker than flies on honey. You ought to have
someone around to keep an eye open — so long as it's not
that satyr, Goebbels. I'll be back in an hour — less, if pos-
sible. Open a new bottle of wine — God knows I'd rather
stay here and share it with you."

"We'll save you some, poor man," she laughed, rising to
give him her crimson lips. "You might tell them that 7
adore Vienna," with a pout. "You never take me on these
trips."

"I'll send you instead; you could do better than I. Well,
for an hour, sweetest — "

Her eyes met mine rather mockingly over his huge
shoulder. He must have been a full twenty years older than
his wife; perhaps more. I could understand her look.

We saluted each other and he turned and marched out.

"Come," she linked fingers with mine, "we are to find
a bottle of wine, cheri — I hope to God you're a good but-
ler; I always break the corks." She led me into the butler's
pantry, and spun through an inspection of the wine there.
Her nostrils wrinkled at the bottles, though any of them
would have been a treat to me. And then her eyes suddenly
brightened. She knelt before me and rummaged under-
neath a shelf. I felt more stirred by her presence than be-

OF ADOLF HITLER n 3

fore. There is something exciting in having a woman on
the floor before you, especially with her backside toward
you.

She rose suddenly, clutching a bottle. "He saves this
for himself," she giggled delightfully, "but I'll let you
have some, if you're a good boy; and we can save what's
left for him." She had the corkscrew in another dazzling,
darting movement, and handed it to me with a mock
curtsey. There was a mood in the air as if we were con-
spirators. "Now do your best. A man ought to be able to
open anything." Her eyes tempted me under lowered
lashes.

I felt on my mettle, and did a perfect job. The cork
popped out as if it had been sparkling hock.

"We used to say in the cafe," she cocked her head pertly
to one side, and smiled up at me, "a bottle well opened
deserves a kiss."

I needed no further encouragement, God knows. I
rounded her slim body with one arm and sipped her lips.
And my other hand caressed her. I never yet met a wife
who did not resent her husband, merely because he was
a man, and thus made superior to her; I rarely met one
who did not want to be encouraged to pay him back in
the one way all women have.

"Naughty!" she stood shivering, when I let her go.
"You kiss like one with too much experience. I meant just
a kiss."

"I have been a virgin since January 29th," I reminded
her. I made no move to reach for the bottle of wine;
instead, I took her in my arms, for another, a slower kiss.

She did not look me in the eyes after this. "He comes
back soon," she said, suppressing a giggle. " — Husbands!

ii 4 THE STRANGE DEATH

And, if we have not even had one drink, he will be sur-
prised."

"But Monday comes," I reminded her.

"That's what I'm afraid of," she giggled.

We were sitting decorously in the living room when he
returned. His eyes went up when he saw which wine we
were drinking.

"It was all I could find, dear," Ulrica told him, with
naive, uplifted eyes.

"Blind as a glowworm!" he beamed fatuously. "Little
simpleton! Well," he poured himself a glass and subsided
heavily into his chair, smoothing down his portly belly
until it was in comfort, "it's trouble over the Storm
Troopers, as usual. Even the ambassadors are demanding
more Leftist action. Roehm's loose talk about the Second
Revolution has spread too damned far. What the hell can
the Leader do with his two and a half million thugs?" He
spat the word out at me, as if daring me to contradict it.

"But they are the Leader's bodyguard," I objected. "His
pretorian guard, shall I say."

"Nonsense!" snorted von Arnheim. "You do not know
what is around you. You have an army — the Reichswehr.
One hundred thousand men, no more; but the crack troops
of Europe — von Blomberg has made them so. They are
sceptical of the Bohemian corporal, yes; but Blomberg
himself thinks that Hitler is Jesus come back to Ger-
many; and that is all that matters. And what do they
think of Roehm's rabble? Ask them! I know. Pretorian
guard, you said. No, that is the Schutzstaffel, the Black-
shirts, three hundred thousand of them — and Himmler,
who commands them, hates Roehm's guts, and all fairies.

OF ADOLF HITLER

"5

Three armies, when any other dictator would be happy
with one. You tell me what is to be done!"

"But why must they quarrel about it?" I objected.
"Captain Roehm told me himself he had the perfect solu-
tion — simply absorb the Storm Troopers into the Reichs-
wehr, and all is well."

"So," he sneered, "is it not a lovely vista! They win the
first revolution, these Brownshirts. But where is the re-
ward, the employment, the improved conditions, the spoils
of victory? They see the Reichswehr flourish and Goring
grow more double-gutted, and, for them, they are told
— no Second Revolution, or there will be the Leader's
personal vengeance. They are the real Left, the Brown-
shirts. Who is to feed them? They are not even needed
any more; the Blackshirts do the protecting, now. Give
Roehm and his Brownshirts a riot to end or to make, and
they are happy; but, in a land at peace, what is there
for them to do?"

"But, if they become part of the regular army — " I
objected again.

"Ach, yes, with Captain Roehm head of an army of
three million men, and Blomberg's discipline shot to hell,
and — Why, as far back as 1922, our precious Roehm was
booted into exile for this very reason. No, it is a serious
problem for the Leader. It is Roehm or Blomberg; it can-
not be both. And Blomberg does not aspire to be Presi-
dent or Chancellor." His voice quieted significantly.
• "Hitler, after the war, was an agent for the Reichs-
wehr — his first work," observed Ulrica cryptically.

"I myself have served under Blomberg. Well, God be
thanked, it is not my funeral."

"It is nobody's funeral, yet," said his lovely wife, with

n6 THE STRANGE DEATH

a sly little smile at me. "But our guest yawns — he is tired,
what with being on his back so long." She rose, stretching
her lovely body languorously. "On Monday, then, at six,
Little Adolf?"

"God willing." I clicked my heels together, and saluted
her warm, soft little fingers.

Erik von Arnheim drove me back to the Chancellery.
I liked him more and more, the more I saw him. And his
wife was the first woman I had been allowed to meet
socially for almost half a year now, except for Frau
Goebbels and a few like her. Ach, what a deplorable
waste of time! And she had entertained in a nightclub,
too.

Well, Monday was to come soon. . . .

OF ADOLF HITLER

"7

CHAPTER VII

THE LONG SHADOW OF ROME

SUNDAY evening I had dinner at the Goebbels home.
It was not exactly of my seeking; I still think it was
of Hitler's arranging, for he had shown much interest in
the brief report I made to him of Erik von Arnheim and
his fascinating wife. I arrived with the Leader himself,
and found him at once in an intimate mood I had seen
only rarely before, and always in this house. He had a
Mickey Mouse of gaily colored wooden balls in his pocket
for little Harald, and tousled the youngster as if it had
been his own. He was only torn away from the child and
his charming mother, Frau Magda Goebbels, by the sound
of a jovial, huge voice in the entrance hall.
"Putzi!" he exclaimed, and made for the door.
I was always interested in studying Ernst Hanfstaengl,
whose position in the Party was anomalous enough, but
whose standing then as Hitler's favorite, next to his closest
friend Captain Roehm, was assured.

Hitler spread wide his arms to embrace him.
"Hah! Away, slight man!" "With a lordly gesture Putzi
^brushed away Hitler's hand. "I am insulted by your own
business partner."

"Come, come, jackanapes, what new nonsense is this?"
grinned the Leader.

n8 THE STRANGE DEATH

"If you please, your beloved Max Amann, 'You-God-
damned-son-of-a-bitch' Max Amann, has called me a zoo
— a zoo infected with vermin!"

"Oh, Putzi, what wild new story have you got now?"
Hitler sat back in a chair, quivering with mirth, as though
it hurt him a little to laugh. "You're always mad, and each
day madder than the day before."

"No, it is gospel truth. He was talking to Rosenberg,
the thinker of your precious Party — I have it on the word
of one of the girls who is secretary there. He said I was
a jackass, a crazy kangaroo, and a louse. That is too many
animals for any man to be at one time. I r-r-r-resent it!"
He tilted up his large nose, and pulled his blond hair down
in ridiculous imitation of Hitler's vagrant lock.

"Ach, he is a top sergeant still, with no more man-
ners," said Hitler. "Was that all?"

"All? Is it not enough? Listen, Adolf — you may be a
jackass, you may be a crazy kangaroo — but I will be
damned if you are these and a louse too! And neither am
I, God wot. Max, he lost one arm hunting my cousin the
roebuck. If he calls me any more names, I'll bite off his
other arm, and eat it raw — and I'll wear his eleventh
finger for a fob charm." He scowled ferociously. But
really, Harald," he switched his mood swiftly, "I am really
a hippopotamus in the Upper Nile." With huge gravity
he was on the carpet before the startled child, galumping
around the floor on all fours. "The louse is on my back.
The louse is named Max Amann. See, I roll over, and rub
him off on the back of an alligator on the river bottom."
With immense gravity he rolled over, and emerged, beam-
ing, on all fours again. "See, I have caught the louse,
Harald — and, as I said, it has but one arm. Now I will

OF ADOLF HITLER 119

eat it!" With huge gusto he pretended to chew and swal-
low it.

"No wonder they called the Party plane a Flying
Circus, with you along!" smiled Hitler.

"All clowns and no lions, eh? But the star of the circus
is the great gorilla, Harald," he continued imperturbably.
"Look, I am in my cage, and this is how a Nordic gorilla
shakes the bars!"

Only the bell for dinner ended the impromptu me-
nagerie.

Dinner over, "I play!" suddenly announced Hanf-
staengl, in a bellow. As if no one else was in the room, he
stalked over to the piano. He spun the seat a few times
each way, as if that were all he had come for. Then he
spun it with himself seated upon it, almost as dizzily.
Finally he came to rest where he wished to be. Goebbels
was hunched up, lost in a huge chair in one corner, his
restless, evil eyes surveying everything in the room. His
wife sat quietly on the davenport behind the seat in which
the Leader had ensconced himself. I sat across from him,
little Harald wide-eyed at my feet.

And then, the Pathetique rolled out. I have never heard
it played with more dreadful beauty. Not even Putzi's
clowning of the round at the end could mar the mag-
nificence of the whole. Destiny seemed to boom out in
the vast opening chords, and the mad rigadoon of the
interwreathed Fates at the end.

"I could listen to you all night," said Hitler quietly, at
the sonorous end.

"I will make records, and you can play them all night,"
Putzi roared. "I myself will compose you a sonata, on the
death of the last fairy in Germany."

120

THE STRANGE DEATH

Hitler stiffened a little at this, as he always did at talk
of homosexual men. He looked apologetically toward
Goebbels.

"Now, Putzi," pleaded Frau Goebbels.

But her husband's large, feverish eyes popped suddenly
open, and he crackled with laughter. "Don't tell me we
actually have airy fairy Lillians in Germany, Putzi!"

"Ask His Mightiness, there. Two leading physicians of
Berlin have just resigned as doctors in the Storm Trooper
organization, as a protest against our chubby-cheeked
Roehm's little proclivities. In the United States, Christ,
there is not a cartoon that does not picture the Reichs-
kanzler rouged, with an effeminate smile, his hand on his
hip! It used to be Charlie Chaplin they imitated on the
vaudeville stage; now any little bastard of a ham actor
with a Charlie Chaplin moustache only has to come out
and squeak 'Now, dearie,' and the audience goes wild,
identifying it as Hitler — while the actor thus makes a
Hitler. That is a pun, my Gracious; you will not under-
stand it. Did these doctors not protest to you, Adolf?"
He crossed his arms magisterially, his bobbing chin de-
manding an answer.

The Leader fluttered nervous hands. "Now, now, Putzi!
They say different things, and plenty of them about you.
And just why should I concern myself with the private
lives of my men? All that is important is their service to
the Party. If we are having a putsch and I need a man,
do I ask whom he slept with the night before? You, your-
self, adore the music of Richard Wagner as much as I.
Do you shut your ears to his greatness because he was a
man-lover?"

"Roehm's dream is a Reichswehr of two and a half

OF ADOLF HITLER

121

million Brownshirted pederasts," said Hanfstaengl insis-
tently. "It is too many, no?"

"And what of the Catholics?" snapped out Goebbels.
"There you have the real teachers of such unGerman prac-
tices."

Hitler looked helplessly at Frau Goebbels. "You see I
am in the minority, dear lady. What am I to do when
they besiege me like this?"

Magda Goebbels smiled gravely. "There I cannot help
you. They say enough about me — that Giinther was a
Jew. . . ."

I must have looked inquiringly. Hitler threw over at
me, "Her first husband, Dr. Quandt — a splendid Nordic."

She smiled thanks. "He was merely a capitalist, and
twenty-five years older than I. And I was reared for some
years in a Jewish family. But Catholics — I know little of
them."

"You two were brought up to say mass." Putzi looked
belligerently from Hitler to Goebbels. "You should know."

"There is more wrong with the black moles, the priests,
than that," said Goebbels, with swift, vindictive bitter-
ness. ""Working blindly underground all the time, under-
mining all the good that is accomplished in a Nordic state!
What was it Voltaire said — 'Europe will never be at peace
until the last king is strangled in the guts of the last
priest!' There is wisdom for you."

"They are not Germans," said the Leader firmly. "They
can never be Germans. The fools say they serve one greater
than any king, any Fuhrer: the vicar of their Jewish god
on earth. It is not that he is Italian, not a bit of it; even
if he were German, we would still have them serving two
masters — an international pope, and a German people's

122

THE STRANGE DEATH

party. Germany is not large enough to hold one man whose
soul is pledged to serve anything not German."

Magda Goebbels observed him with her sweet, candid
gray eyes. "Is it true what they say about the confessional,
Herr Hitler? About corrupting girls and women, and all?"

"And boys and men," put in Putzi explosively. "Ask
Roehm!"

Hitler flushed again. His voice was grave. "There is
much truth in it, of course. It gives them an unparalleled
opportunity, the whole system. Look: a priest is forbidden
by the tenets of his faith from ever marrying. Think what
this means. For his whole life he can never look on any
woman as his own, his wife, the to-be mother of his chil-
dren. All this is forbidden completely. He is not supposed
to think of her even as the mate of his bed for one night,
no matter what monasteries and seminaries and nunneries
have been down the ages. But he is a male, and so he must
think of such forbidden things as the woman's body and
all that it does. How easy is corruption, from that!"

"Voice of God, ach," sneered Goebbels evilly. "Here
comes a sweet young German girl in to the confessional.
Here is the priest to confess her — young, lusty, human.
You tell me he thinks of nothing but Herr Gott when he
talks to her? She is a girl; she had a body such as the Virgin
had, and the Holy Ghost found out about her; she has a
body she will give to some man, as wife or mistress; or,
if not, she will go to her grave, whether as nun or un-
married woman, with a woman's legs and breasts and body,
able to thrill just like the body of a wife or whore. You
think the priest does not think of all this? 'Has no man
ever touched you, my dear?' " His sonorous voice rolled
out — and I marveled anew to hear this magnificent voice

OF ADOLF HITLER 123

from this little Jack-in-the-box of an emaciated dwarf.
" 'Has no man ever rubbed your breasts, or slipped his
hand up your leg, or stripped off your clothes and enjoyed
you? Have you never admired your own nude body in
the mirror, or touched it at its most sensitive spot to enjoy
the sensations? When you sit on the pot, do you have clean
thoughts? What do you think when you sit on the pot,
when you lie sleepless alone in bed, rubbing your legs
together because you cannot go to sleep?' Ach, it makes
me sick, the power these ignorant Romish swine have over
the minds of young girls, of brides, of married women.
And, as the Leader says, they can never think of her as
man normally thinks of a woman — it must forever be
merely a prurient curiosity to know what her body is,
and what it looks like, and how she touches it, and how
she surrenders it to men. . . . And, lacking all normal
outlet for sex, what is there left but to enjoy sex vicari-
ously by suggesting the most unspeakable perversions to
the sensitive minds of those girls and women who have
come to him as the voice of God, the holy Father!"

Hitler shivered. "They have such power, certainly. It is
hideous."

"And over boys and sensitive young men, as well,"
added Putzi triumphantly. "You have seen the reports
from the schools run by the good Brothers, damn their
perverted souls! You know how they are saturated, honey-
combed, infiltrated with unnatural vices of all sorts!"

The Leader shook his head, as if to clear this all out.
"Germany has no room for the Catholic Church," he
said, almost pompously, as if he were rehearsing a speech
to make before a vast multitude. It was so, I had begun
to learn, that his speeches grew: first tried out upon his

124

THE STRANGE DEATH

friends, and, when they approved, spoken so to the Ger-
man world. "They are traitors to the Fatherland; for they
serve a foreign representative of a foreign god; and they
have sworn their souls to this, and have no free souls
to give to their Fatherland. Luther, so long ago, discovered
how they milked the body of Germany to provide cream
for the dissolute papal court. They are international, and
never patriotic, never nationalist. They joined with the
Jews and the Marxists in 1918 — nay, long before the War
— to sell the body and soul of Germany to the international
bankers; they played their large part in the debacle of
1918, to break the spirit of the free Nordic race, and build
of my Austria and of Bavaria a state that would be sub-
servient to the pope; and ultimately to crush Germany
itself. Their religion is a lie, taught by Jews; their practice
is abnormal, denying to the best trained and educated
among them the duty of fatherhood to provide soldiers for
the Reich; they are spiritual traitors and bodily eunuchs,
at best, and perverters of their communicants at worst.
They must go!"

"Bravo!" said Magda Goebbels softly.

"/ started Catholic," I said quietly. "My uncle was a
Protestant convert, and when I went to live with him, I
became a Protestant. And then I figured it out for myself.
If my father's religion was right, my uncle's was a lie. If
my uncle's was right, my father's was a lie. I came to the
conclusion both of them were lies."

"Bravo, Little Adolf!" It was J Frau Goebbels applauded
this time.

"Go to the Brothers' schools, and learn," said Putzi, less
loudly, "and learn. They are not for Germany."

"They will go," said Hitler firmly. "Germany has no

OF ADOLF HITLER 125

room for divided allegiance. It is Deutscbland uber Alles,
not Deutscbland unter Rome iiber Alles. You will see. We
will make it so. Only when we have a German church and
a German god will the Reich be herself again."

"As for the Brownshirts, bye-bye, dearie," mimicked
Putzi.

"Come, lazy lubber," Hitler rose, affectionately laying
an arm on Putzi's shoulder. "If we only had time for more
Beethoven now! But there is a meeting I must speak at,
before ten. I leave you in better hands, Little Adolf, than
I put myself in. You hear that, Goebbels, Putzi?"

"We go to kick the pope in the rump," said Goebbels
firmly, "and all clericals with him."

"And all Miss Nancies too," said Putzi.

We got them out of the house at last.

Frau Goebbels, with a slow enveloping smile, proceeded
to discover a bottle of brandy and poured a glass for each
of us. Little Harald had long gone to bed. "He is in-
credible, that Putzi," she said slowly. "But he is not a bad
influence for the Leader. Court fool, court jester — all
monarchs once had them. Laughter is a tonic for the
soul; the Leader needs it. It is truth that Putzi talks,
oftener than not. Truth is healthy."

"Are things as bad as he says among the Storm Troop-
ers?" I asked, troubled by the conversion.

She shrugged. "Who can tell? But I believe they are.
My husband says it is so, and worse. It — it reflects on the
- Leader. Abroad. You heard Putzi."

"American swine," I murmured. "They make small
difference. And yet. ... It is a shame they speak so."

"They know nothing," she said slowly, "about Europe
. . . about Germany. Only what the paid propagandists

126

THE STRANGE DEATH

say. Any more than we know about the real America. I
talked with a charming woman only this last spring — a
woman of broad education and civilized background — she
was German-American, of course. She mourned that the
Leader would not marry. It would mean so much to the
unsympathetic world, she said."

"It would quiet the rumors, certainly," I admitted.
"There has been talk in America that once he was about
to marry you." I was startled at my own effrontery. But
even the books from America that I had read during my
convalescence had said as much.

She shook her head sorrowfully. "I was never more
than his dear friend. I became a Nazi convert while I was
still married to my first husband; and, when he could not
understand or sympathize, naturally I secured a divorce.
I joined the party, went to work for it, and by the best
of all possible luck became secretary to Joseph. At that
time, Hitler was not so uninterested in a woman." She
studied me slowly, wondering how far she dared go.

"That I had not heard," I said, ears agape.

She shrugged. "Oh, it was nothing. His own sister's
daughter, Frau Raubel's little Geli. The mother was the
housekeeper in the Leader's house in Munich; little Geli
lived there. She was simply wild about her uncle — she
loved him wholly, I haven't a doubt of it. He . . . well,
he was as fond of her as if she had been his own daughter.
All sweet and beautiful. She wanted to be a concert singer;
there only Herr Hitler put his foot down. No, it must be
forbidden. So, once, his own father had vetoed his wild
craving to be an artist. She — well, in 1930 she shot herself,
in her bedroom in his house. He has not gotten over it.
Perhaps he will not."

OF ADOLF HITLER 127

"But it seems so tragic! And there was surely nothing
wrong in it all. . . ."

She fixed me with eyes tense with deep sorrow. "There
is one ghastly thing about it all. There had been rumors,
of course, that she was more than merely a niece to the
Leader. The doctor who gave the death certificate was a
swine, a ghoul. I know men who knew him. He made sure
that she was a virgin — virgo intacta — before he had her
embalmed. It clears Herr Hitler; but . . . the very
thought is ghoulish." Her voice died away.

"If he even had a mistress," I hazarded. "Before the
world, it would make a difference."

She made a wry mow. "Do you think I have not tried!
After all, it is so, so many marriages start, isn't it? I have
trotted out every attractive girl I knew before him, and
where have I got! He talks party tactics to them, that is
all. No, he is a solitary until death, I am afraid. It is a pity.
— As if Germany were his bride," she said slowly.

"And he is Germany," I said proudly. "If he had more
to give to a wife or mistress, he might have less to give to
Germany."

She nodded. "It is so."

I shook my head, deeply moved. "Thank God I am not
the savior of my country, then."

128

THE STRANGE DEATH

CHAPTER Vm

HORST WESSEL DAY

IT IS strange that slight shivers of apprehension strike
panic in the official families of dictators. Some little
rumor about the ambassador at Geneva had sent Erik von
Arnheim off to the tour of the nearby capitals. And now,
on the very day on which I was to dine with the lovely
Ulrica in the evening, there came another flurry of rumors,
that sent everyone flying helter-skelter like an October
gust among dry, browning leaves.

The Chancellor was all prepared to review detachments
of the Blackshirts and the Storm Troopers, marching as
part of the Party parade in honor of Horst Wessel — not
the celebration of his death, but of his joining the Party
— when a breathless orderly came in from General
Himmler and asked to be closeted with the Leader. I, as
one of his bodyguard, was in the room with him. Huge
Bruckner, his Adjutant, and Schaub were also present.
Hitler's reception room in the Chancellery had huge win-
dows heavily hung with brown curtains. It has often
startled visitors, when some unexpected sound or motion
caused alarm, to see the curtains part and pistols cover
them from each side of every window. But such is the
guard that is kept over the modern redeemers of the
people. And this day, from excess nervousness, half of

OF ADOLF HITLER

129

the Blackshirt guards were in their window embrasures,
although no outsiders were expected.

The orderly's heels clicked, his hand flashed up in the
Nazi salute. "Heil Hitler!" came rather breathlessly from
his lips. The Leader responded more lethargically. The
orderly handed him a message.

Hitler read it rapidly. His eyes narrowed and grew
tense, he tugged at his microscopic moustache. "Send for
Goebbels and Goring," he directed Schaub. "Read it, Zeit."
He handed me the message.

Heil Hitler!

Excellency, one hundred stands of arms were discovered in a
warehouse cellar belonging to Communist sympathizers in North
Berlin last night. The ammunition has still not been discovered.

Two Austrian Communists were arrested in the Excelsior
Hotel, when one was overheard saying "You watch out, some-
thing will happen tomorrow." Five hours' questioning, using all
means, discovered nothing more definite.

There is evident a plot in connection with the parade and the
review. It is urged that all precautions be taken.

H. H.

I recognized the sprawled initials at once as the signature
of Heinrich Himmler, once Gregor Strasser's secretary,
and now the feared head of the Blackshirts. I recalled what
Arnheim had said of him: that he suspected everyone not
a Party member of being a Jew, a Jesuit or a Communist.
I could picture him presiding, in his impressive black
uniform with a schoolmaster's pince-nez riding his narrow
nose, over the futile questioning of the two Austrian
Communists. "He seems to think he has discovered some-
thing," I hazarded.

i 3 b THE STRANGE DEATH

"My dear Zeit, there is something to be discovered
everywhere all the time." Hitler stared around the room,
as if expecting the window to disgorge Communists in-
stead of his devoted Blackshirts.

Goring came ponderously in and read the note. "I will
clear the street for three blocks beside your reviewing
stand, and have machine guns guarding every direction,"
he said aggressively. "And I hope they do start some-
thing!"

Meanwhile Goebbels had thumped in and was consider-
ing the note. "It is not wise," he said meticulously, in his
silkiest voice, "to send registered letters to the world that
we fear an attempt on the Chancellor's life. Why not use
Little Adolf, here?"

I flushed unconsciously at the callous way he was willing
to expose me the moment there was a whiff of danger. And
I barely out of a convalescent's bed from the poisoning!
And then I quieted within. His manner might be callous;
but, after all, this was what I was paid for. I saluted.
"Gladly," I said. "I am to command."

"It is just a review," said Hitler, with a troubled look.
"There may be no danger. The guns have been seized; the
ammunition is worthless without them. It would be as bad
if they shot at him."

"It would not be as bad if they hit him," said Goebbels
suavely. "Let us trust there will be no shooting. But it is
much wiser."

"Far wiser," said Hitler swiftly.

"For me, I prefer machine-guns," said Goring.

So it was that I emerged at eleven forty-five in the same
reception room, my wig and wax removed, wearing the
uniform of the Reichsfiihrer, even to the dogwhip. It

OF ADOLF HITLER

always seemed to me that it added several inches to my
stature to impersonate the Leader. I once told this laugh-
ingly to Captain Roehm, and he had me measured both
ways. No, my bodily stature had not lengthened; but I
knew that I acted a larger part, and I played it with my
full soul. Goebbels, Goring and the rest of the important
cabinet members saluted me solemnly, with heil-Hitlering
on every side. I outdid myself in lackadaisical responses,
and took my place in the middle car, beside Goebbels and
just behind Bruckner and Schaub. Julius Schreck, of
course, was driving. I was the object of solemn considera-
tion from all of them. By now, I often wished Herr Hitler
himself could see my impersonation of him; it would
suggest several distinct improvements to his own bearing.

Goebbels has a satanic kink in his makeup that made
him enjoy the masquerade far more than the others. He
leaned intimately toward me. "How was the brandy last
night, Little Adolf?"

"Herr Reichskanzler to you," I said, keeping my face
stern. "Excellent," I added.

"Putzi was, as ever, the ineffable clown." He considered
this thoughtfully. "I would like to have seen Rosenberg
kick him down the stairs. They say Putzi was so excited
he rushed into the Braun Haus and came out wearing two
hats."

"I am surprised he did not come out crawling like a
centipede," I said, relaxing my grim look a trifle to respond
to salutes from the packed throngs on each side of the
avenue. "He is capable of it."

"Ach, here we are. — Goring and his machine guns!"

But there was plenty of space cleared for the car to
park beneath the reviewing stand, and, feeling like Napo-

132

THE STRANGE DEATH

leon about to lead the attack at Austerlitz, I mounted to
the reviewing rostrum. The day was deliciously warm, and
the shade of the great lindens was a welcome relief from
the gold blaze of the sun. On both sides of the wide ave-
nue I could visualize all Germany lined up, in silence,
about to greet the columns marching in honor of the
brave young hero who had died that folkic Germany
might live. As Goebbels had explained to me, there was
no nobler act in the annals of all Germany, nay, of all
the nations of the world, than that of this inconspicuous
Brownshirt, who had been beset and wounded to his death
by Communist thugs. As he was dying, they brought the
nearest doctor to minister to him. To his horror, the dying
Nazi learned that the man was not Nordic; worst of all,
that he was one of the accursed race of Jews. But, with
his heroic soul, he did not falter in this supreme emergency.
With his dying breath he waved the man away; he would
rather die than be treated by a Jewish doctor. And so he
died, hero as' he had lived, and his name has become im-
mortal in Nazi annals; while his Horst Wessel Hymn is
sung even more fervently than Deutscbland iiber Alles.

All Germany lined up to reverence his heroic spirit. . . .
And, marching down the wide avenue, soon would come
the representatives of the two fighting bands whose loyalty
and bravery had made our success possible. What a dread-
ful pity that Germany was increasingly becoming split
into two rival forces again — the Reaktion, led by von
Papen, von Blomberg of the Reichswehr, the financier
Schacht and Goring, on the one side, and the revolutionary
Party itself on the other. It looked to me like the dilemma
of the immovable body and the irresistible force. Which
of them would triumph, if a clash occurred, it seemed

OF ADOLF HITLER 133

impossible to foresee. And, below these, the actual slime
of the extreme Left stirring, the Communists and Marx-
ists, the conspiratorial Jews, and even wilder direct
actionists.

Ah, there they were, at last — the head of the column,
with Captain Roehm riding magnificently in front. I stood
erect, as they passed so microscopically beneath me, all
with hands flung up in salutation, all with Heil Hitler
on their lips. I gave them back the salute with my whole
soul. Go forth, men of Germany, men of the Party, and
save Germany, and save the world! What difference did
it make whom the men who served me had slept with the
night before? What difference did it make who any of
us would sleep with tonight? As long as we all served
the Party, the cause, Germany, that was all that could
possibly matter.

And then the trig columns of the Blackshirts, with
Heinrich Himmler at their head. Ach, it was a great day
in the history of the world when these myriads marched
before me, in honor of a national Party hero such as the
world had never known! No ignorant peasant girl be-
dazzled by imaginary voices, no stodgy squire who
chopped down cherry trees and spent his time wintering
out of doors, no old-fashioned archer shooting at apples,
no one-armed admiral stumping immorally over Europe
with another man's wife, but a freeborn German, who had
gladly laid down his life in honor of his cause, his Party,
and his Fatheland, rather than let a Jewish doctor bandage
His wounds.

One need only compare the patriotic slogans of various
nations, to realize the amazing superiority of the folkic
Nordic soul. What are such trivial remarks as "They

134

THE STRANGE DEATH

shall not pass!" "My only regret is that I have but one
life to give to my country!" "England expects every man
to do his duty," "Britons never will be slaves," "Give me
liberty or give me death" — mere platitudes, parrot-like
repetitions of the obvious — to the sublime, immortal
majesty of "I refuse to be treated by a Jewish doctor?"
Saintly Horst Wessel, your dying words phrase the eternal
aspiration of the German folk soul, of the Nordic hope of
the world!

Such is the reborn, freeborn Germany of today; such,
the German god willing, it will be, to the last syllable of
recorded time! We felt, all of us, uplifted in that sublime
moment. Every one of us would have gladly made the
sacrifice that Horst Wessel made, and thus done our small
part in saving folkic Germany and with it the world's
culture and civilization. May as glorious a fate await each
of us! Peace to his ashes.

The last long column passed at last, and, my arm almost
numb with the constant salutes, I let Goebbels steer me
into the car, and drowsed back until we reached the Chan-
cellery again. It was only then that I realized that somehow
the expected attack by the dastardly Communists had been
thwarted, and that the Fatherland was saved once more.
May all such attacks on Germany end as abortively!

And I knew that I would relish a glass of brandy more
than anything in the world. But I was the Leader, and that
was verboten.

Later, this same night . . .

I passed wearily through the reception room, saluting to
right and left. I could read men's fantastic devotion to me
in their eyes. Let Stalin be respected, let Mussolini be
feared; Hitler at least, as long as I had anything to say

OF ADOLF HITLER

135

about it, would be beloved! They saw my weariness on
my worn face, and every heart was wrung at what I had
done this day for the Fatherland.

I disappeared in the anteroom, and was soon stripped
and midway of a Steaming Bath. It was forbidden to call
them Turkish baths in the Fatherland. For all that the
Turks had been our allies during the war, the precise
Steaming Bath given in Nazi Germany today is entirely
folkic in origin and development. I relaxed, as the Leader
had told me to, and was thumped and thwacked and
beaten on the buttocks and all over my body, until I felt
like a new man. An icy shower, with each needle of water
like a prickling icicle, snapped me back into a forgetful-
ness of all my weariness. I would have fought the man
that tried to hold me under that shower another second.
A vigorous towelling at the hands of the Nordic attendant
— he had been recommended by Captain Roehm, and he
was certainly a master of his trade — and I dressed slowly,
restored the wax to my nostrils, put on my wig again, and
came out to greet the Leader.

"We were lucky," he said proudly to me, the first
opportunity he had for an aside. "They did not dare do
a thing. There is no discontent in the Fatherland when
my Brownshirts and my Blackshirts are marching!"

I smiled assent, faintly startled that he could call them
his, so far did I identify myself with him when I was
substituting for him. It was not wise, at this moment, to
remind him that the discontent came primarily from the
Brownshirts, wearied at the long waiting for the expected
reforms that their government had promised and should
have brought in. "It was a mighty sight," I reported. "I
only wish that your Excellency could have enjoyed it all."

i 3 6 THE STRANGE DEATH

"Putzi played the Moonlight for me," he said, face
devout. "It was better so."

At six I left the Chancellery to learn more, for Fiihrer
and Fatherland, about Frau Ulrica von Arnheim.

I was driven to her apartment with mingled feelings.
By now, I was rather sure just how the political affilia-
tions in that family had developed. Erik von Arnheim,
I had long ago discovered, had a strong personal attach-
ment to Hitler. But he had been identified, not so long
before, with the Junkers, whose dregs were represented still
by von Papen and the discredited von Schleicher; and his
thoughts all tended to the Right. All of these Rightists,
even von Blomberg, who worshipped Hitler, had one pro-
found misfortune: they had as their leader the President,
a man who had been notably senile for months. At break-
fast, yes, he was in command of his faculties; but, any
time after that ... So twilight comes, in life, with a
merciful sponging out of the absurd realities that seem so
vital in the sunlight. But how can men at noon stand
thralled to a man in his twilight?

As for Ulrica, she was all different. She defended Roehm
violently, yes; chiefly because she refused to recognize him
for what he so clearly was, even by his own letters. Yet
what he stood for was different; and this too she stood for.
The Party itself had once been Left; but what was the
Party today? I determined to find out, for the Leader, just
how deep went her allegiance to those steps that neared
the Marxist ideal too closely: the things demanded by the
Party platforms and its speakers so late as six months ago
— the elimination of the thralldom of interest, the distri-
bution of land to the people, the socialization of industry.

The folkic state must be superior to private profit espe-

OF ADOLF HITLER

137

daily, for it was international; and the Jews were the most
international of all races. But how did she stand with
regard to Nordic profit?

I could never forget how the Leader himself had empha-
sized to me the vital difference between Jewish capital
and profit, on the one hand, to which he stood unalterably
opposed, and Nordic capital and profit, when he was
explaining to me the nth, 13th, 14th and 17th of the
original unalterable 2$ Points of the Party. "Wherever
you discover capital that is grasping, — that is Jewish and
must be exterminated; wherever you discover capital that
is creative, — that is Nordic. The one distinction is the
presence of the Jew. He must go!" My problem was, did
Ulrica von Arnheim distinguish so clearly?

138

THE STRANGE DEATH

CHAPTER DC

ULRICA VON ARNHEIM

NE feels a certain delicacy in approaching the house

of a hostess one intends to seduce. Perhaps the most
unsettling thing about this specific affair was that I had
come into it so automatically, so spontaneously and un-
deliberately, that I had failed to weigh it in advance from
every possible aspect, to make sure that my intended
course was entirely justified, considering all of the cir-
cumstances, from every conceivable point of view. I had
indefinitely set aside this final day to consider the matter
with the necessary thoroughness, weigh the reasons and
arguments pro and con, and ultimately decide just what
were the reasons which entirely justified this course of ac-
tion. And now, the unfortunate accident of having had
to double for Herr Hitler at the Horst "Wessel parade had
rendered that entirely impossible.

I tried with desperate rapidity to myself to sketch the
arguments pro and con, on my brief ride to the von
Arnheim apartment. Erik von Arnheim had been in
charge of the guards at the Chancellery the night my mid-
night Junker visitor came. Now if there had been a liaison
between him and the mysterious voice from the Right,
that of itself made potential retaliation justified. Herr
Reichskanzler himself had urged me to make a special

OF ADOLF HITLER 139

study of von Arnheim, and find out "all I could" about
the lovely Ulrica. "All I could" was a blanket commis-
sion; I would be recreant if I failed to follow it to the
very end. I had been agreeably surprised when Ulrica had
invited the first kiss, in the butler's pantry, by adverting
to a tavern custom entirely unknown to me, that a bottle
well opened deserved a kiss. Biology itself came to my
aid, in deprecating my enforced abstinence since January
29th from all corps-a-corps contact with the opposite sex.
When providence, patriotism, opportunity and science
spoke on the one side, it behooved me to weigh any op-
posite reasons with a suspicion amounting to downright
scepticism.

What was to be said on the other side? It was difficult
to find any objection that could be dignified with the
name of reason. He was my host; but this point was nul-
lified by the positive duty in the Tuareg country and else-
where to offer one's wife to one's guest. That we were not
in the Tuareg country, and that he had made no offer,
were merely trivial carpings; the spirit was the thing.
There was such a thing as the marriage vows; but Wester-
marck has established with finality that these are based
upon primitive folk-customs connected with the detestable
invention of private property in women, and naturally
are irrelevant to civilized conduct. I might get in trouble.
But if it were possible to get in more trouble than I was
in now, with hundreds of stands of arms potentially aimed
at me on the reviewing rostrum in Unter den Linden, it
would be worth while to discover the fact. It might mean
out of the frying-pan into the fire; but what a charm-
ing fire! The only real reason was that a mistress made,
often meant a friend lost. I would have to chance that,

140

THE STRANGE DEATH

considering the positive delight of securing a mistress, and
the extreme uncertainty about the value of friendship un-
der troubled modern conditions.

The chauffeur of the car from the Chancellery repeated
for the fourth time, "We are here, Herr Zeit." I did not
catch the mumble that followed this, except some refer-
ence to the deity and a clearer enunciation of "jackass."
I thanked him, squared my shoulders, walked down the
entrance hall to the elevator and announced the proper
floor. The die was cast! Behind the Alps lay the Rubicon.

"Oh, it's you," said Ulrica, smiling at me through her
lowered eyelashes, as I entered the living room. "I thought
you had forgotten."

"Elephants never forget," I said, remembering some-
thing that Putzi had said the night before, although it did
not seem entirely relevant, the more I reflected upon it.
I bent stiffly and kissed her soft little fingers. It is a
strange thing, but here I must all the truth write down:
I felt a distinct sense of repugnance in kissing her fingers.
I have tried much, since, to analyze this, and have come
to the conclusion that it was the unfortunate result of
my day's activities as double for Herr Reichkanzler. For
when I act as his substitute, I throw myself so heart and
soul into the chore, that I think his thoughts and share his
attitudes. "When my face and body are identical with his,
and my slightest action, my veriest alteration of a facial
muscle, is conditioned by a perfect imitation of him, it
must be that this sets up a biochemical reaction in my
brain, which conditions as well what I think. And so,
kissing the lovely wife's little hand, I felt a repugnance
to the idea of coming into close contact with any woman;
as if it were, indeed, a thing forever barred. I am con-

OF ADOLF HITLER 141

vinced that I was at that moment, as often, Herr Hitler
in my soul.

If she had not rubbed her fingers against my lips, the
mood might have grown on me. It is a pleasure to chron-
icle that it ended the moment it began.

There was a cocktail instead of the sherry and bitters
which the English have borrowed from us of the Father-
land; and then dinner was served. Somehow the impres-
sion grew upon me that Ulrica was a different person, a
happier person: as if living the life of the wife of a cab-
inet member was a role it was pleasant for her to lay aside,
as it was for me to take my Steaming Bath and revert to
simple Herr Zeit. At that, she had insisted that I remove
the wax from my nostrils, the wig from my head, before
going in to dinner. I could hardly think that her sole
reason was to give the servants something to talk about;
although I found her later as thoughtful in every way.
It may well have been that she wished to fancy herself
seduced by Herr Reichskanzler. That would be the classic
example of the isolated instance.

The piece de resistance of the meal was a haunch of
venison from her husband's preserves in the Schwarzwald,
washed down with the most delicious Steinwein I had had
in years. It mellowed us beyond description. The liqueur
at the end was only the final grace note, the arpeggio that
led up to the final resounding chord. We walked back into
the living room, and I will confess that for a moment my
-thoughts tended to stray from the immediate business in
hand to the realization of my ultimate hopes. But, after
all, I was supposed to find out for the Leader the shades
of opinion in this important family among the Party lead-
ers, and I must not forget my assignment.

142

THE STRANGE DEATH

Ulrica von Arnheim made my task lighter from the
start. "Little Adolf," she said, plumping herself in a chair
opposite me and Unking her fingers closely together, "I'm
simply miserable."

"You're— what!"

" — Miserable. And I don't know what in hell to do
about it."

"What's the trouble, Loveliest?"

"Erik." She said it simply; it definitely advertised that
there was to be no evasion, no circumlocution, between
us. "Three months and a week ago I was a very happy
girl. I had been singing for four months at the Schwarz
Anser — and, oh, how I worked to make good at that op-
portunity! I was pleasing everybody. I still had my con-
tacts with the Party, with the group I had always known.
They were all high in the Storm Troopers, too; at least,
in West Berlin. Someone brought Erik in. He is a dear.
From that first night, he thought I was the most marvel-
ous person he had ever seen — he told me so. And he was
in the Cabinet, and . . . Well, as first I thought he only
wanted what every other man there wanted. And he had
money to spend, the Cabinet have simply oodles for their
expense account, and he's awfully distinguished look-
ing. . . . When he asked me to his apartment on the
Wilhelmplatz, I had my answer made up, of course: why
not? But he wanted . . . marriage. That was my first
mistake."

"But everyone says what a happy marriage. . . ."

Her face was tortured. "It is easy to talk. First of all,
he's more than twenty years older than I. A lot more.
Well, what of that? Other girls have married men all
ages and been happy. And he gives me everything in the

OF ADOLF HITLER

world — he's simply infatuated, and prouder of me than
a girl of her first date. He shows me off to everybody — he
isn't jealous a bit; look how he brought you here, the mo-
ment I asked it! But there's one thing I can't stand."
There was tragedy in her face. "He's Reaktion. That's the
whole story in a nutshell."

"But you can't really mean . . ."

"I'm afraid I can never make you understand." She
tapped with her slim toe against the polished hardwood
mosaic of the floor. "I am twenty-three. For ten years I
have been on fire with the Party. Even when I was only
a kid. ... It meant something to me, the silly platform
— the things we demanded, when we were first the Na-
tionalsozialische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, barely grown
out of the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei. That platform — I still
believe in it, with all my soul. The land for the people —
no more slavery to interest — the socialization of industry.
Where have they gone? Do you really think that von
Papen and Neurath and von Blomberg believe in any of
it? The Junkers? The dead old fool in the President's
Palais? And it is to that party that Erik belongs; and he
will not change. And I'm married to him!"

"But he's a Nazi," I protested. "Surely he must stand
for all the things you stand for!"

"There are two faces to the Party," she said wildly,
passionately. "Here we have the face I detest. . . . The
Junkers — those I have named. The capitalists — Schacht
. . . Thyssen. The Reichswehr is their mailed fist. Goring
"is their little lapdog. Erik is their voice, their envoy."

"I cannot believe it is so," I insisted.

"Ah, but I know, I know! I hear too much. Eternally.
Then there are the others, the Left. The farmers I do not

144

THE STRANGE DEATH

know. The bourgeoisie makes no difference one way or the
other. But the rank and file of the Party, the Storm
Troopers and all they represent, led by Captain Roehm —
they are the ones who made Germany what it is to be-
come, who must make it what it must be — and Erik is
not of them. What am I to do!"

"We are one Party," I said, appalled by her vehemence.
"These are differences of tactics only, not of objective. In
the end, all of the social program — "

"No," she said bitterly, "I know. On the one side, the
real party, there are Roehm, the little dwarf Goebbels —
how I detest him, with his leering lascivious eyes, dull
Frick, mild Fraulein Hess — why do they call him by that
absurd name? — Heines, Heinrich Himmler, Rosenberg,
and how many more. Only one of these is wildly alive —
Captain Roehm. It is Erik who says so. He only sees that
there is but one thing to do with the Storm Troopers —
to blend them with the Reichswehr, until Germany has an
army that she can be proud of, with Ernst Roehm at their
head, to the last man of them pledged to the last plank
of the Party platform. But too many men love the
Leader," sadly. "Himmler would desert Roehm in a mo-
ment if he was told to. Von Blomberg of the Right wor-
ships the dust the Leader leaves behind him. How can the
Party succeed when they all worship the Leader and not
the Party — and when the Leader does not know where he
stands!"

"Surely you exaggerate," I said, almost stiffly. It is a
mistake for a woman to argue, I have observed. "The
Leader is the Party. That is the Leader principle he him-
self has invented."

"No!" she said positively, her cheeks flaming. "The

OF ADOLF HITLER 14 j

Party is his, I grant it: his creation. He made it; he is still
its soul. It will never desert him. But the Reaktion — it
has never been his, except such isolated cases as von Blom-
berg and my husband. The last election did not break the
Junker group. They are restive still, throughout all Ger-
many." I remembered my midnight visitor, and nodded.
"Nothing will buy them off, except to make them the
Party. My husband himself says so. And Roehm and his
Brownshirts — what of them, then? The Reichswehr would
slit Roehm's throat tomorrow, given half the chance.
Little Adolf, we must unite and keep the Party true to
itself!"

"But it is sure to be so," I said. "There will be a sup-
pression, if there is an uprising of the Reaktion. There is
only one party in Germany now. . . ."

"And the Party is Hitler," she said despairingly, "and
von Blomberg has his ear, and Erik, and — Oh, God!
Himmler worships the ground he walks on, and he is
already head of the Blackshirts, three hundred thousand
of them. Erik says there is even talk of a secret police,
with Himmler at the head. They have already forced the
Leader to say that there will be no Second Revolution.
What, then, becomes of the Party, and its aims!"

"But what can I do?" I asked her earnestly. "Too little
already I know of the Party and its aims! I am young,
young in the movement, gnadige Frau."

"I talk too much," she said bitterly. "But my heart is
breaking. I think I married Erik because he was Cabinet,
and I thought it would help turn the tide. What do I
mean to him, about Party tactics? Nothing! You know
what a German man thinks of women, except for the
bed. But something, something you can do! You are close

THE STRANGE DEATH

to the Leader, closer than any of us. You are the Leader,
as today, when times demand it. Tell him to trust Roehm,
above any man in the Party! Hess — Ugh, his eyes
frighten me! Goebbels would sell his mother's corpse for
old leather, if he has not already done so. Frick is a bureau-
crat, helpless. Rosenberg has his nose in his books.
Streicher is all bile and no brain. You are alive, alert —
what none of us can do, you can do. I will say no more."
Her lips locked closely. "I have said too much."

"But your husband — " I wondered.

She shrugged. "He is in the other camp, yes. I do not
think he chose it so; he was born so, reared so. He is not
bitter; he does not care!" She stood erect for a moment.
"That only can save him." She slumped again into her
chair, cheeks flaming from her excitement, eyes pleading
into mine, her lovely bosom rising and falling. "I will say
no more. Come, amuse me." She leaned back in the depths
of her husband's huge easy chair, exhausted from her own
vehemence.

I walked over to where she sat and stood above her.
"Your little heart is beating," I said, "as if it would pop
out of your body. So, I will quiet it."

"Please, Little Adolf, don't," she urged, pushing my
hand gently away. She seemed to be thinking still of all
she had been speaking of. "You've been good to listen."

"It was a pleasure," I smiled down. One thing especially
was in my favor. If she put that much passion into her
politics, she would put that much or more into the more
serious affairs of life, such as loving. I began to realize
more and more that this assignment was going to be ex-
tremely pleasant. I laid the trespassing hand on her leg,
once I had removed it from her breast, and pressed the

OF ADOLF HITLER i 47

warm soft flesh encouragingly. "I begin to see what you
mean."

"Please!" She rose suddenly, eyes unnaturally brilliant.
"Come, we have been neglecting the wine, dear friend."
She led the way back to the butler's pantry. It was a
pleasure to watch her hips sway as she walked: as always,
it seemed to be a door closing tantalizingly, and then
opening invitingly. Again she knelt before me, and rum-
maged underneath the shelf. I felt more stirred by her
proximity than before, having her on the floor before me
with her backside turned. A man cannot help thinking
how it would feel to bare the pretty little rump and essay
her; or even give it one good hearty kick, to give her a
taste of where the real power is. It may be that this goes
clear back to the Caveman.

She rose, bright-eyed, clutching a bottle. "He saves this
for himself," she giggled excitedly. "But tonight we'll
just steal it, and finish it up. He'll never know." She
presented me with the corkscrew as before. "So long as
you'll do what you can with the Leader. . . . Now,
come, your best." Her eyes under her lowered lashes
tempted me.

I made as good a job as the first had been.

She smiled shyly up at me. "That was well opened. . . ."

I said no more. I rounded her slim body with one arm,
and sipped her lips. Their taste was more firing than the
first time. My other hand caressed her.

She clung, shivering, to me when I had finished. "No,
not that," she said. "We will behave. Come, you bring the
wine." She fled swiftly ahead of me into the living room.
I knew that there were ways that were closed at the far
end, and smiled to myself.

i 4 8 THE STRANGE DEATH

I filled the glasses. "To you, and beauty, and love," I
toasted.

"To the Party, and to hell with Reaktion — and you as
our ally!"

"Good. And to us — together!"

She lifted her head, and stared pleadingly into my eyes,
and at the end clinked. She stood staring uncertainly at
me, when she had emptied her glass, tapping her toe on
the floor. I verily believe that she was at that moment
troubled about the Party still.

I steered her to the huge davenport this time and took
her in my arms for yet another kiss.

"No, no, not that, please," she urged. "You must go
home — it must be dreadfully late. No — Little Adolf,
please!"

"But why? We are young, we are alone; life is sweet
and love is sweet. . . ."
"But there's Erik."

"Ah, but surely he is not the only man in the world!
Love did not begin and end with him!"

"Don't, don't please, dear friend. It isn't fair to
him. . . ." Her bright gray eyes were frightened now,
as I held her immobile. "Darling . . . — Before we were
married, and especially when I was at the night club, of
course; it was not wrong, then. The Party members were
so splendid; and later, when I was entertaining, it was ex-
pected of a girl. But being married changes it all, some-
how. He expects so much of me. He wants children, a
home — he wants me to be the first lady in the Reich —
Oh, don't, Little Adolf! Anything but that!"

"If you can give me one good reason — " But I did not
stop.

OF ADOLF HITLER

149

Her breath came more desperately. "He wants a child
from me. . . She shivered, closing her eyes. "We ate
just married. . . ."

But I did not falter. There is no doubt about it, there
is no better way to get at a woman's secret soul than by
securing her surrender to you. I have always observed that
the episode functions like a truth-machine, a lie-detector.
And it had been January 29th since I had last touched a
woman.

She was sobbing softly at the end, and that I liked too.
It is like seeing a landscape in all sorts of weather; there
are facets of beauty that only the rain can bring out, I
have observed. I kissed away the warm, salty tears in her
eyes, and the taste was delicious. I have observed, too, that
so some women express pleasure.

"Ach, you're wicked," she said, eyes snapping slightly.
"I detest you. You knew I didn't -want to! I thought I
could trust you! Men are all alike. — Fill up my glass."
She smiled slyly. "I was afraid you would be like that,
too. I ought to send you home, right now." She regarded
me with dreamy speculation. "But you've promised to
speak to the Leader. . . ."

I clicked my heels together and presented her with a
glass of the golden laughter of the Rhineland. "To us —
and love!" I toasted.

"And to hell with Reaktion!"

I sat smiling at her, as we drank more slowly this time.
"We have shown tonight which side we are on. Come, tell
me again what you fear as to the precise outcome of this
deadlock in the party."

"I ought to send you home." She smiled shyly at me.

"You're not going to. I won't go."

i JO THE STRANGE DEATH

She made a swift little shrug of failure, ineffably grace-
ful. "It would make a scene, if you refused to go. It
wouldn't be fair to Erik to let that come to his ears, no.
Ach, men, men." She considered me thoughtfully. "You
are close to the leader. — Closest. Now, Little Adolf, what
I fear . . ."

It was naturally a pleasant assignment, to the very end.
In the morning she clung to me, she would hardly let me
go. "You don't have to go to that stuffy old Chancellery,
really! Erik's in Vienna tonight, and in Prague tomor-
row. . . ."

But I shook my head firmly. "After all, the Leader. . . ."

She kicked off the sheet even, to tempt me so, and
giggled. "At the cafe, it used to be begging men to spend
one more night away from their wives. It's like the old
days. And you do love me, Little Adolf, don't you!"

A man needs a universe of dittos when he is with a
woman or a child. I established this to her satisfaction
again.

She smiled softly. "I knew what you were going to do
that first night. That's why I suggested dinner here last
night. Erik, he needs all his energy for these damned
Party assignments. — If only you didn't have to go!"

I promised that the Party would keep him busier than
ever in the future. She would not let me leave until there
was a dinner date for Wednesday night also. It was most
satisfactory.

OF ADOLF HITLER iji

CHAPTER X

THE UNENDING EMERGENCY

I ARRIVED at dawn at the Chancellery — it seemed far
more discreet than to wait until the servants had
awakened. Later that morning, I gave my report in person
to Hitler. I told him all that was relevant about the night
before, and he commended my astuteness and enterprise
in having this interview with Frau von Arnheim in her
husband's absence. Only so, he said, could the real atti-
tudes of the Party members be brought out. Any two
together, he said, might constitute a conspiracy; any one
could always be made to reveal what he really wanted
from the Leader.

"There is such a conflict within the Party," he observed
to me thoughtfully, watching huge Blonda mouth the
butt of his worn dogwhip with low growls of pleasure.
"It is so when success comes to any cause in any land.
The ones who achieve it are more or less of a unit in their
early efforts. And yet, it was less rather than more, in our
case. There was the strong folkic feeling — Germany for
the Germans, and out with such alien parasites as Judaism,
Marxism, Communism, Catholicism, even Protestantism
— all the aspects of the international peril that saps the
vitality of each land, each people, today. There was hatred
of the national impotence caused by the betrayal at Ver-

ij2 THE STRANGE DEATH

sallies. There was national bankruptcy and unemployment;
and, worse still, official graft, corruption, shocking in-
efficiency. All these we harnessed into one colossal flood-
tide of pan-Germanism — the Nazi floodtide."

My hand flung up to the salute. "Heil Hitler!"

He smiled approvingly. "We won — and at once we are
confronted with the inevitable fact that there are other
currents in Germany — the old ruling class, Junkers,
militarists, the fighting spirit of Ludendorff , the power of
Aryan capital. These are German, too. We could not ex-
tirpate them if we wished to. Russia tried; they have crept
back as enemies within, and that is bad for any land. But
we do not wish to eliminate them: they are vital to the
coming greatness of Germany, as the first power of Eu-
rope, of the world. There is a way, and one way only.
They must be harnessed, these two floods that have joined
together since our victory — the fervor of the Party, the
power of the betrayed German ruling classes. — As the
Inn flows into the Danube below your Passau, to make a
greater Danube, no? And I will do it. But it is bad for
any little Napoleons that have fattened in puny, neglected
arrogance during the early fight, and cannot now see with
my eyes."

"You can reconcile them?" I tried to follow his tense
absorption, watching every slightest intonation of his
speech, every trick of phrase and gesture and facial ex-
pression.

"I alone; for I have a weapon that is new in politics,
that I myself created and have never departed from. Der
Fuhrer Prinzip — the Leader principle. As far back as
192 1, when Dickel and Streicher planned to take the party
from me, I had myself made dictator of the party. I have

OF ADOLF HITLER 153

been so since. I, as the Leader, as the head, am responsible
alone for success or failure; the duty of the rest is only
to obey. I will listen, yes; but always I decide! Once it
was 'Heil Dickel!', 'Heil Streicher!'; now it is only 'Heil
Hitler!' There is no other country that is so; it is our
backbone of iron. There can be no revolt, even of a ma-
jority; for I, standing alone, am still the majority! When
we are still seeking the power, J am the seeker — the Party.
When we have won the power, as now, I am Germany!"
He threw back his shoulders and gave the salute and the
hail again.

On fire with his power, I gave the response.

"Good. So, it is for me to say when the time is ripe to
harness these two turbulent, tumbling floods together, to
weld them, to blend them, to merge them, to make them
one colossal one, which all the united nations of the world
could not withstand. And I fear that that time approaches
now." His voice grew quieter.

"Other rulers have a similar power, Herr Reichskanzler.
Dictators . . ."

He shook his pale head, the lock of hair falling sud-
denly into place over his left eye. "Democracies, never.
It is their structural weakness, their insidious dry rot, the
teredos boring into the hull of the vessel until the leak
they start floods her and she sinks. There is no leader, ex-
cept the moment's vote-grabber. He holds his power only
until the bedamned sacred ballots have been scribbled
again; and he dare not take one affirmative step, for fear
all will be undone in tomorrow's election. So we have
blocs, and coalitions, and compromises, and shifting of
power — Conservative today, Centrist tomorrow, Commu-
nist the day after — and none with real power, so that the

i 5 4 THE STRANGE DEATH

blunted aims falter and the alien tide sweeps over them.
Look, Little Adolf," he started pacing up and down the
long hall abruptly, emphasizing each point by thumping
with the butt of his dogwhip against the table, "where
there is no emergency, let us say, it is pleasant for a group
to listen to all, and act at the moment's whim. — Democ-
racy. Is it not so?"

"But naturally, Herr Hitler!"

"Good. A new word from anyone, and the objective can
be altered entirely, and no great harm done. For there is
no emergency! This is theoretical, merely; you will see.
The moment there is an emergency, all this is insanity,
and seen so by all men. A ship has but one captain; it is
recognized that, on the moving tide of ocean, there is
always emergency. Would you have a Reichstag deliberate
and orate and vote whether to luff or go about when the
storm hits? Insanity! Now listen: a country can have but
one captain! Life can have but one captain! There is
always emergency. It is that that the fools do not recog-
nize. There are the powers of nature, heat, cold, flood,
drought, hurricane, volcano, disease, suffering, death — all
these must be fought, and understood, and conquered,
eternally. There are the facts of nationality, of race, of
boundaries, of colonies, of armaments, of employment —
all these must be disciplined into the natural order, with
the superior race dominant as should be, and the other
races recognizing their inferiority — and this is a never-
ending emergency. In some far world-pacification, when
these things are realized, and disaffection and inferiority
held down with an iron hand — when the lambs that are
the other nations lie down gladly under the shadow of the
lion that is Germany — then, I grant you, the Leader might

OF ADOLF HITLER ijj

relax a little, and listen with readier ear. But so long as
there is any possibility of any thwarting of his will, he
must be authority, and the rest must be obedience. Only
so comes might. And Germany will be might!"

"The world recognizes the greatness of your principle,
Herr Reichskanzler," I said, when he paused.

"Other dictators, you ask. Mussolini is to make peace
with the Vatican; I have it from the highest sources. Can
enemies make peace? The only peace is extermination.
Stalin increasingly makes peace with capital, and moves
Right, far from the goal Lenin aimed for, a goal he in-
herited. Can enemies make peace? In Germany, we have
no enemy, except internationalism, however hydra-headed
the single beast may seem to be. Lop off the heads, one
by one. . . . Jew, Marxist, Catholic, Communist, pacifist,
Protestant. . . . And so the young Siegfried stands forth,
the world-leader. But can you imagine Siegfried running
for mayor of his town, and being defeated by a Commu-
nist shoemaker, a Catholic priest, a pacifist lawyer, a Jew-
ish carpenter? No. Leadership is of the blood, the soul,
not of the ballot. A majority can never be a substitute
for the Leader. I will reconcile them, even I, though I cut
my heart in two to do it. For the only reconciliation is
oneness; and all who stand in its way must go."

"You would give no recognition of minorities, then?"

His hands flew violently outward. "What recognition
can they desire, except becoming one of the majority?
Look, such a city as Berlin, for instance. We have — and
they are all scattered — some representatives of almost
every race, of every country, in the world. Grant auton-
omy to them? Give recognition to them? Tolerance, as
long as we wish it, as long as we hold it wise. Recognition

i S 6 THE STRANGE DEATH

is unthinkable. The will of the Leader is the will of Ger-
many. The will of Germany is the will of God. For Ger-
many is God! And I will keep it so."

There was much in this that I still do not follow. But
it was for him to think, for me to listen. Meanwhile, my
personal problems were not inconsiderable. There came a
note from my Ulrica:

Cheri —

Wednesday is too madly precipitate. After all, there are the
servants, and E. is dreadfully jealous by nature. I positively for-
bid you to come. I will get in touch with you, and we will have
tea together soon, no?

Ever your
U.

There was but one answer to make; and I made it. I
wired her:

INVITATION GRATEFULLY RECEIVED EXPECT ME FOR
DINNER WEDNESDAY SIX O'CLOCK

LUDWIG ZEIT

The dinner, the evening, and all that followed surpassed
in every respect the former occasion. It is so a woman's
mind must be made up for her.

Thereafter, I saw to it that Erik von Arnheim was away
on these trips of Party pacification through Germany and
further, more frequently than before. It was not difficult
to slip in subtle praise of his results to the Leader, and
urge that he be sent on more and more of these important
journeys as the liaison officer between all disaffected groups
in the Party. Of course, in adjusting Party disaffections,
naturally he tended always toward the Reaktion — I had

OF ADOLF HITLER 157

no doubt of that, and the results increasingly showed it.
Thus gradually the strong revolutionary spirit of the
Party was hobbled little by little in favor of the return of
the Right, and the social principles that Ulrica stood for
were pushed further and further from achievement. But
my own reward was increasingly delightful, for each of
these trips afforded me Erik's adorable little frau as a bed-
mate for the night, and soon restored me to the excellent
physical condition I had been in before January 29th.

As the weeks slid into months, I was extremely pleased
to observe that Ulrica herself looked forward to these ab-
sences of her husband as eagerly as I. When you once get
a woman in a continually expectant state of mind, you
have gone a long way toward the complete soul conquest
that is so vital a part of man's proper role in his relations
with women.

Meanwhile, as a result of reports I made, von Arnheim's
journeys, and more disquieting information, the Leader's
espionage within the Party had more than doubled, until
he had at his fingers' sensitive ends an understanding of
precisely the way things were tending. He sent for Cap-
tain Roehm in early April, 1934, and I had the chance to
hear the issues splitting the Party threshed out more au-
thoritatively than any other living man. Only the three
of us were present, except for the everpresent Blackshirts
behind the window draperies.

"The whole damned Sturmabteilung * is grumbling."
the Leader flung it brusequely into his friend's teeth.
"Why the devil don't they accept the revolution as a fact
accomplished, and go to work making Germany what she
must be?"

* Storm Troopers, Brownshirts, SA.

i 5 8 THE STRANGE DEATH

"Go to work? How? What work is there for them to
do, with unemployment growing hourly? And how can
we regard the revolution as anything accomplished, when
all it set out to do has been ignored?"

"That's not fair, Ernst. Look what we have done to the
Jews already — and even so that is only begun. We are
moving intelligently forward, at a reasonable rate of speed,
to achieve everything we set out to do. You can't bring
even a German millennium overnight. Why in God's name
do you have so many men? Two and a half million is a
dreadful drain on the Party funds."

"Where else are they to go? They're Nazis to the core,
every man of them. As you yourself are — a Brownshirt,
first, last, and forever. When they were indispensable,
they saved the cause; now the Blackshirts replace them
even in guard duty. It was not Himmler who organized
the fighting forces of the party, Adolf; it was you and I.
But that plum he has. While Goring struts around, with a
new medal on his chest every morning — ach God, what
a price he would bring for scrap metal! — while the
Reichswehr swagger around as in the old days when to be
a Nazi was to be a hunted, hounded man, and while the
industrialists flourish — all this time my men starve. The
country is sick of so much peace; God, for the good old
days when a Party meeting meant after the Communists
and the rest with clubs and whips, and broken heads were
the least we could be sure of giving them! Peace is a dis-
ease, my Leader; Germany must be well again! Let sleep
be peaceful, but for God's sake, let waking be alive!"

"We are tightening our forces all the time," objected
the Leader.

"Tightening, ach yes! That is what is wrong. Look, to

OF ADOLF HITLER 159

take her place in the German sun, there must be an army
— not this pitiable little division of a hundred thousand
men that is the Reichswehr, all that the damned Treaty
allows us. Adolf, can't you see what I offer you? Two and
a half million men, on fire to serve you and the Party, on
fire to make Germany dominant over every race on earth
— and you pass them by! In God's name, open the door
and let me pour them all into the Reichswehr — and then
Germany has an army second to none on earth! We can
achieve the social justice at home we have promised — who
is there to stop us, with an army like that? We will be so
formidable that you have but to say your will, and the
futile democracies will bow to your every request! Don't
you see the chance you have, that you're letting slip?"

Hitler's face was ambiguous. "It is not time to trouble
ourselves about social justice yet. That will come; im-
patience makes ruin. We will come to that, soon enough."

"As an epitaph?" Roehm's scorn cut. "As a posthumous
regret?"

The Chancellor shrugged. "Von Blomberg says he will
shoot himself before he will take orders from you."

"For God's sake! Why from me? From you, of course;
with me only as commander under you."

But I noticed that he did not leave himself out.

"It is a great pity that they libel you and Heines and
the rest so," said the Leader distantly. "There are things
I let no man talk to me. But I know what they say, when
I am absent; it is all brought to me. It is a pity."

Captain Roehm bit his lips and squeezed his fingers. He
stared at the wall and said nothing.

Hitler's eyes unlidded once and grew cryptic again.
"We cannot dismiss the Reichswehr."

j6o the strange death

"Who wants to dismiss them? In God's name, let them
be the guard of honor — they, or the precious SS. So long
as my men can cease starving and start serving. . . ."

"Slum proletariat, they call them. Hoodlums. Boy
Scouts. It takes training to make a soldier, Ernst. You
know that as well as I. "We are both of the army, you and
I, dear friend. Fighters, yes; soldiers, no. Listen to reason.
Lessen the number of the SA. Cultivate von Blomberg
and the rest, as I have. Germany needs all of us; not
merely us few who lit the fuse. We are all the Party, now.
All Germany. There is no end to what we can do, if we
do it wisely."

"Is there a wise way to starve?" Roehm's eyes flashed
fire. "There is only one wisdom; and that is, to act! In
the name of the two and a half million loyal German
Party members who are my Brownshirts, I plead with you,
enroll us under the banner we have earned, as defenders
of the Party and Germany, as aggressors for the Party and
Germany! So we will reach our destiny!"

"I am glad you are sure," said the Leader, with a smile
not too warm. I had learned to read the hinterland of
that smile, though, and I trembled within myself. "It will
make it easier when the next step comes. Well, we will see,
we will see."

After Roehm had gone, the Leader called Blonda to
him and tussled with her until he had thrown the devoted
bitch to the floor. He rasped the dog's huge neck with his
foot, while deep growls of satisfaction came from the huge
throat.

"Little Adolf," he slumped back into his favorite
chair, snapping the dogwhip handle to left and right,
while Blonda mouthed it in ecstasy, although any moment

OF ADOLF HITLER

I thought her neck would be broken, "there is a great
man. It will never be recorded how much he has meant
to the Party, and to me. He has more energy than fat
Goring ever had. He is as bitterly ruthless as Goebbels.
Not quite the shrewd brain, no, or he would not have
spoken so openly to me even just now; but a great brain
still. He made the SA, when we had to have it or perish.
"When things seemed darkest, and I have thought of sui-
cide, so dark they became — who has not? — I took one
look at the granite of his face always, and I borrowed
from it the courge I needed to keep on fighting. And he
loves me; and that is more than I can say of some. He is
loyal to the movement until death. A great man."

"He is important," I agreed. "But, in Germany, only,
you are really great."

Hitler shrugged; but I could see that he bristled with
pleasure. "How many great men can live in a country,
Little Adolf? In a world?"

He did not want an answer from me. The answer he
knew.

He argued aloud with himself. "Even when a man and
his wife are ideally mated, there are times when a divorce
must be. If one insists in living in Munich, and the other
in Rostock, how can they meet — except by divorce? I let
him go to Bolivia once, when we split on tactics before.
Damn it, I care for him too much."

"And he for you, too."

He shivered. "Sometimes I wonder if he does not con-
sider himself as the Crown Prince. And there have been
Crown Princes that have not been too alert when the
king's life was menaced. It is not hard for the Chief of
Staff suddenly to become more. Too much more. If I only

i6z THE STRANGE DEATH

had our colonies back, so I could discipline him by sending
him to cool his heels a long way from Unter den Lin-
den. . . . Ach, he would organize the world as we would
have it — there was never an organizer like him! But, here,
I do not know."

"Von Blomberg thinks the world and all of you too,
my Leader."

"Perhaps. Increasingly so, yes. And Himmler, yes. But
Roehm is my heart's friend. I do not know. . . ."

OF ADOLF HITLER

CHAPTER XI

IN WHICH A BULLET DOES NOT MISS

ONE especial shadow hovered lower and lower over
Germany, over the President's Palais. The senile old
warrior, von Hindenburg, grew sicker and sicker, and
death could not be too far ahead. Who would be the new
President, and who then would be his Chancellor? In
both camps plans and plots grew more and more feverish.
For in that moment it would be too late to plan, it would
be time to act only. Only the Leader seemed to keep his
head in the snarl of plot and counterplot.

On April 18 th, at the suggestion of the vulture, Goeb-
bels, Captain Roehm was invited to speak before a dis-
tinguished gathering at the Propaganda Ministry — the as-
sembled diplomatic corps and the foreign press. I was there
when the invitation was extended, and I will never forget
the black laughter deep in the little hunchback's eyes, as
he discussed it with the Chief of Staff.

"What shall I tell them?" asked Roehm straightfor-
wardly.

"Talk out," said Goebbels, craning his head closer. "Tell
them what's really in your heart. The world is saying we
have slowed down. They say — "

"We have," said Roehm unhappily. "That's the damned-
est part of it."

i6 4 THE STRANGE DEATH

"Ach, but we will end that, soon! It is time the mach-
inations of the Reaktion are firmly put down. Listen,
Captain, the revolution was not a quietist movement, no?
Your Storm Troopers are not content to sit back forever
and see Germany slump back again into the slough it was
in under the old Junkers, and later under the corrupt
Marxists, are they?"

Roehm snorted. "Let them talk to you as they talk to
me, and you'll soon see how content they are! It's all I
can do to hold them back, as it is."

"Good, good!" Goebbels' eyes gleamed eerily. "Tell
them so — the representatives of the foreign governments,
the unofficial spokesmen of the foreign press, who will
spread to the world what our aims really are! After all,
we are of the revolution, you and I! No one has ever
called me Rightist!"

"By God, I will, and thanks to you for the wise advice!"
He strutted cockily away, to prepare his speech. In his
head it buzzed that Goebbels was slowly moving over to
set himself behind the Chief of Staff.

I myself wondered a little at Goebbels' attitude. He was
one of the aggressive revolutionists, certainly; but it was
quite as certain that he was no friend of Roehm's. Why
should he be giving so much of the propaganda spotlight
to the Chief of Staff? More and more I realized that I was
living in a web of intrigue, petty and great, spun on all
sides of me; and that my one course was to avoid all of it
and see nothing, hear nothing, know nothing, except the
task I was named for to substitute for the Leader when
need arose.

Roehm's direct talk startled the world. It was almost a
personal promise of action, of something strangely akin to

OF ADOLF HITLER

the Second Revolution that the Storm Troopers were for-
ever talking about. It sent the Reaktion scurrying into
their corners, desperately planning some method of stav-
ing off the inevitable fate that seemed just around the
corner for them.

Two days later, Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS,
was named Chief of the Gestapo — the Geheime Staats-
polizei, or secret state police. This was the day that my sly
suggestion had had Erik von Arnheim sent to Bremen by
Hitler, to quiet a threatened disaffection among Nazi
sailors there; and I knew he would say his own word to
the shipowners too. It had been almost two weeks since
he had been away, and Ulrica's little note telling the good
news sent me strutting around in midafternoon to make
up a little for lost time. As instructed, I tapped on the
side hall door of the apartment, and the little maid, wide-
eyed, let me in. She adored her lovely mistress, and was
wholly sympathetic to my visits and the wisdom of keep-
ing them from the unsuspicious husband.

"She is in the bedroom, waiting for you," she whis-
pered, with brightened eyes.

I gave her a kiss and a reasonable tip and hurried quietly
in to Ulrica. She was utterly ravishing in a black mousse-
line de soie negligee; and, at my suggestion, she wore it
without the slip of crushed velvet that hid her more in-
timate beauties from her husband and others. She flung
herself into my arms for such a passionate welcome that
for a few moments I forgot the good news I was bearing.
And then I told her.

"Bravo! Then we are winning!" She coiled up at the
head of the bed, bewitching in her disheveled loveliness.
"I did not think that the damned Reaktion could gain

166

THE STRANGE DEATH

any real headway. First Roehm's splendid speech, and now
this! Goring must be a volcano of rage."

"I have not seen the Herr General since it was an-
nounced." I smiled at her. "But, dear God, since the
Gestapo was his own child, since he created it just a year
ago, and put his own creatures over it — that vile Diels,
who's been cracking skulls for the police since the worst
days of the Marxist regime — he must be raging."

"Just an example of what I mean, cheri," she said to
me earnestly. "He's not even a Nazi, that Diels — just a
lickspittle for the Junkers and the capitalists. Surely Herr
Hitler won't turn the future of the Party and the govern-
ment over to swine like that! He must be coming around
to Roehm's point of view."

"And yet, Goebbels has me puzzled. He is no friend of
Roehm's, no. Nevertheless he seems to be playing into the
Captain's hands. This very morning he told the Leader
that he was about to let loose another Niagara of propa-
ganda against petty critics and alarmists, killjoys and all
the forces of the Reaktion. There must be some reason
behind it. . . . Oh, and there's more in the air, too. Cap-
tain Roehm has persuaded the Leader to combine with
Gregor Strasser again — and there is a real revolutionary
for you, boor though he may be! He's actually sent
Traulein' Hess to invite him back into the Cabinet, with
the portfolio of Economics. Think what a threat that will
be to the Reaktion!"

"Sweet, sweet, it is all too good to be true! We are
winning, we are winning! And I believe it is you who are
really doing it, my Little Adolf. Come, I am wild for
you!"

Vidi, vicisti, veni. . . . Just about five I dressed again,

OF ADOLF HITLER i6 7

and the maid slipped me out of the side hall door. I walked
down to the floor below to take the elevator; at six I ap-
peared formally at the main door and was admitted by the
butler for dinner. But it was from the side door I left,
just before dawn, at peace with the world. And I had
things to report to the Leader too; for I never forgot my
pleasant duty of finding out for him all about Ulrica that
he wanted to know: which had become entirely irrelevant
to what J wanted to know about her, of course.

That afternoon, Reichstagpraesident Goring called in
person on the Leader, with evil fury in his eyes. What did
the Leader want, his resignation? How dared he remove
Diels from the headship of the Gestapo, without even con-
sulting Goring in advance? How could there be loyalty
to the Party, when old and tried members of it were
passed over like this?

For more than an hour Hitler argued with him. The
principle of Leadership must be supreme. It was far wiser
to have the head of each organ of the general front re-
sponsible directly to himself, and not burden his able
assistants with the task of serving as conduits between
their underlings and him. It was not fair to Goring to
overburden him, troubled as he already was with his
headship of the Reichstag, minister, Ministerpraesident of
Prussia, and general.

But Goring was not to be mollified so easily. "It is the
end." he said heavily. "Would God I were buried in
Sweden with Karin." His voice was all bitterness.

At this, the sensitive Leader broke into tears — a hysteric
outburst of feminine tears. Once or twice before I had
seen him give way to his emotions so; and I could never
understand a man's crying out of sheer baffled pique.

1 68

THE STRANGE DEATH

The Baroness, he said, had been the noblest woman he
had ever known; it was the tragedy of tragedies that the
dreadful white plague had taken her the very year before
the Party had won its first great success.

"But she should not lie on Swedish soil, General," he
said, quieting his tears at last. "She was surely German,
folkic, Nordic, to the core. The greatest mausoleum in all
Berlin is too small to hold her soaring spirit; at least, it
can hold all mortal that is left of her."

"I have thought of bringing her body back," said
Goring heavily. "Yes, she should lie in German soil. Each
day I kneel and pray before her picture, in my own
study." His huge face stained red with embarrassment.
"I thought of making a shrine for her there. Surely she
is more worthy of worship than this Jewish trull wor-
shipped by Christians as the Mother of God."

"You will let me kneel before the shrine, too," said
Hitler earnestly. "That is the sort of Nordic religion that
we need. And, my well-beloved friend, may I not go with
you to get her body? May I not ride with you in the car
that escorts her to her last resting place on German soil?"

They parted as two strong men shaken with grief.
Only after Goring left did I see Hitler straighten up, his
eyebrows lifted, his nostrils faintly curled. "We need more
funerals in Germany, Little Adolf," said the Leader
cryptically. "It would clear the atmosphere."

But he said no more than this.

There were other things happening, but all obscure.
Von Arnheim and the Leader talked before me once, with
references to a pact that the Leader had made with von
Blomberg on the Deutschland in mid- April; and that
Erik had the general's word that the Right group, even

OF ADOLF HITLER 169

with von Schleicher present at the Bad Nauheim confer-
ence a month later, had agreed to support the Leader,
provided what had been promised was carried out. It was
all cryptic, all mystifying, to me. It almost seemed to me
that Hitler was laying his eggs in both nests. Statesman-
ship was not elementary arithmetic, that much was clear.

But most of the talk in the Chancellery was of the
Leader's visit to Venice, on June 14th, to talk with II
Duce. Hitler was sullen when he returned, and it was to
me he exploded most. Swine, he called him; greasy Italian
swine! In confidence he told it to me, he had informed
Mussolini that he was prepared to execute a coup in France
itself, with Paris, Lyons and other strategic centers laid
under a blanket of poison gas, and the country overrun
from Berlin in twenty-four hours. Yet II Duce had been
most inconsiderate, when asked merely to give his spiritual
support to the planned subjugation of Germany's eternal
enemy. Instead of agreeing, he had insisted on receiving
a pledge of full recognition of Austrian autonomy, — as
if planning to prevent in advance the Anschluss. He had
even dared suggest that Hitler might well learn that one
type of men make a revolution, and another type are
chosen to rule thereafter: a direct slap at Roehm. It was
only later that we learned of the wily Italian's further
betrayal of German aspirations in notifying the French
of the planned coup, and leading to the swift French
mobilization along the borders.

This was Saturday, the 16th. On the next day the re-
mains of the Baroness Karin Fock, Goring's first wife,
were interred in the soil of the Fatherland that has so
many graves, with such strangely assorted people in them.
It was not a quiet time. There had been another interview

i 7 o THE STRANGE DEATH

between the Leader and Roehm, and it had been explosive.
Again, I alone, except for the Blackshirts in the window
embrasures, had been the only outsider present.

"The discontent has become too great, Ernst," said Hit-
ler, writhing at his defeat in Venice, and out of temper
with the world. "Reports from every section of Germany
say that the Storm Troopers bray about nothing but the
Second Revolution."

"Can I cut their tongues off, or their hearts out?" de-
manded Roehm fiercely. "Goebbels, too, has talked of it,
when he is not throwing the Communists at the Reaktion
to put them in a panic."

"I will have no more of it," said the Leader coldly. "It
must stop. It is almost time for the annual vacation for
your Brownshirts. Let them spend it learning silence."

Roehm's face flushed. "That is all they have been hav-
ing — that vacation without pay called unemployment,
called inactivity, called peace. If only we could have been
let loose on France! But I will end the talk of the Second
Revolution, my Leader, by one simple word — that the
Storm Troopers are to be absorbed into the Reichswehr!"

"They may come in," the Leader's tone was colder than
ever, "but only when and how I will it. It may seem wise
to introduce conscription at any time. They may all come
in, then, simply by qualifying by the accepted system of
selective recruiting the Reichswehr demands."
"They won't accept that crust!"

Hitler's jaws grew firmer. "Advise them to use then-
two months of vacation to reflect on the matter then,
Ernst. This calls for mature deliberation. I am sure you
will agree with me." His face hardened. "And no SA uni-

OF ADOLF HITLER 171

form is to be seen on the streets during that period,
Ernst."

"The men won't stand it! They are pleading now to
have the furlough cancelled. It is the betrayal of the revo-
lution!"

Hitler rose slowly to his feet. "Strange words, to ad-
dress to the Leader. I am sure you do not mean them,
Ernst. Think it over, and see if I am not all wise. You are
still Chief of Staff, and highest in my regard. But not for
words like that. Consider. Deliberate. You are not all
Germany."

"You are not all Germany!"

"My friend, when I speak, I speak for all Germany, and
all the Party too. Go. I will expect you soon to tell me
you are sorry for your loss of control. Soon."

"Oh, hell, I'm sorry. But if you think this is the way to
win the revolution — Himmelberrgothacramentl Ach,
good day, Adolf." And he flounced sulkily away.

Sunday, just before noon, the Leader summoned me.
His face was harried. I saw General Goring and several of
the more conservative Party members present. General
von Blomberg and several of his staff were in attendance,
too. I noticed that they wore service revolvers ostenta-
tiously on their hips, a thing I had never seen permitted
before.

"I am attending the services over the remains of Frau
Goring," the Leader took me aside and told me. "There
is a restlessness in the air. It is too damnably still; I smell
a storm. Perhaps you had best ride in the car in front of
me.

"You mean — as Der Fuhrer?"

1 72 THE STRANGE DEATH

He shook his head. "Bodyguard merely. Unless there is
a change of plans."

"Why the heavy artillery?" I glanced toward the dis-
play of revolvers.

His face stiffened. "July ist will be critical: when the
brown shirts are peeled off of the malcontents. Until
then. . . . All the staff officers go armed so."

After the solemn ceremonies at the new tomb for the
remains of the Swedish wife, Hitler walked a few feet
away with me. "I do not like funerals, Little Adolf. From
a boy, I have feared them. I always fancy that I myself
am about to be lowered down into the grave, and the lid
of the coffin sealed and screwed down forever, and the
dirt and stones piled on me, never to be removed again.
I should not have come; but I had promised. I felt to-
day, stronger than ever, that it was I who was there in
the coffin, and Germany's future with me. No, Germany
will go on," his face showed agony, "but I wish to go on
with it! There is a bitter word abroad, too, that Karl
Ernst refuses to disband his Storm Troopers, and will
dare try to occupy Berlin, and even murder all of the gen-
eral staff. God in heaven, whom can I trust? So. . . ."
He studied me fixedly. "You I can trust. Listen, we will
all walk together to the cars, and I will slip into the dark-
ness of Goring's car, and do you sit in my place, with
Schreck driving you, no?"

"All as you wish, my Leader."

We walked in a thick clot past Goring's car; the Leader
stepped quietly inside, and I for a moment got in beside
him. In that moment off came the wig, out came the wax
in my nostrils. I reached for his dogwhip. And then, face
altered to his likeness, striding stiffly, I moved forward and

OF ADOLF HITLER

r 73

occupied for the return the seat he had occupied riding
out to the mausoleum.

It did not seem so welcoming, my Germany, on that
ride back. The sky had grown sallow and leprous, and
rowdy, brawling gusts snapped the tree branches sud-
denly upward, till leaves hardly born fell plummet-like
to the darkened earth. The funeral had not been an-
nounced, and none knew that the Leader was to be pres-
ent. There were no packed thousands along the way, with
their frantic "Heil Hitler!", like wine to the soul. There
was the usual Sunday afternoon crowd out on promenade.
Most often these were clotted on some corner to listen to
some malcontent airing his earned misfortunes, or a group
of these, bickering scowlingly over what was to be done.
And many of them, seeing the official guard before us and
the official cars behind, stood lowering as we passed, and
fists were shaken with hideous violence the moment we
had passed.

"Hoodlums!" said Schaub, who was beside me.

"Dogs!" the chauffeur threw back over his shoulder.
"If I were the Leader, I would order the bastards to
smile."

We were within five blocks of the Chancellery when it
happened. There was a denser mob on a street corner here
than we had yet passed. As the leading car neared, these
surged aimlessly into the street. The chauffeur of the first
car had to slow down, to avoid running down the saunt-
erers. Schreck, who was driving for us, did the same. We
were momentarily almost at a standstill.

At that moment, the glint of late sunlight on metal
struck my eye, from a balconied window above where the
mob had been thickest. I stared with peculiar fascination

174

THE STRANGE DEATH

at it. And then at one and the identical moment I felt
something slice through my left shoulder, and I heard a
faint popping sound, far quieter than a car's backfiring.
Then, as I automatically cowered back in pain, a bullet
pinged into the woodwork right in front of me.

The car ahead had speeded up, and Schreck had fol-
lowed.

I steeled all my nerves against the searing pain in my
left shoulder. "I think he winged me," I said, through
tensed teeth.

"Shot?" gawped Schaub.

"Naturally."

"Serious?"

"—My shoulder."

"Dung, that's nothing! I've been drilled through the
body too damned often. . . . You know, a shoulder
wound doesn't bleed much. Bet you twenty marks you
can't walk across the sidewalk and into the Chancellery
without flinching!"

"Take you," I said. "I will, or you carry me in."

"Thank God he was in the next car," breathed the
guard, with relief. "Dung!"

The car stopped in front of the Chancellery entrance.
Things were jumping up and down inside of me. But I
was to walk without flinching across the sidewalk and into
the building. I marched it as the Leader himself would
have done, Schaub a step or two behind me. He did
quicken his steps a trifle at the very end.

I heard our car whirr off and the car behind, containing
the Leader, grind to a standstill. The great door swung
silently open. I walked into the entrance hall. I saw
Schaub's face staring with huge eyes down at me, as I
knew the room was falling, and then knew nothing.

OF ADOLF HITLER

175

CHAPTER XII

A PURGE IS PRESCRIBED

I WAS by the doctor patched up in half an hour, and
sent to bed. He prescribed a sedative, and by the next
morning I was at my post, a bit pale and my shoulder
stiff enough, but otherwise not seriously damaged. Himm-
ler sent his Blackshirts snarling into every place he could
think of. We knew the reward offered to the member of
the Gestapo who could establish the connection of any-
one with the murderous attempt on the Leader's life. The
building from which the shot had been fired was found
to be vacant, and it was taken over by the government
at once. But that was all.

The official Volkischer Beobachter never referred to the
incident. Lesser papers mentioned it as merely a lying
rumor that anyone could be so unGerman a traitor as to
"shoot at the Leader in Germany.

Who was responsible for the dastardly outrage? The
forces of the Reaktion? But they had come to terms with
the Leader, harsh though those terms were. Some dis-
-gruntled sorehead among the SA? But all indications so
far pointed to their victory.

I had one blissful night with Ulrica the Thursday after
I was shot. She was more than passion, in gratitude for my
escape from the close call I had had. I was let out as

I? 6 THE STRANGE DEATH

usual into the gray Berlin dawn, in front of the building
where the von Arnheims had their apartment.

A fog had crept up from the river during the warm,
rosy hours of night, and I could see nothing but blankness
across the street, and barely ten feet of the iron railing
socketed in concrete running along the building's front
to my left. I stood staring into the swimming sea of gray,
when suddenly a vast black mass emerged ahead of me,
like a djinn for height. It sloped down toward me, dark-
ening and lessening in height as it neared. Before me was
a tall officer, a Captain, of the Reichswehr, wrapped in a
black cloak.

He fell into step beside me, locking arms with mine,
urging me forward. "You are going my way a few steps,
Herr Zeit." His voice was gray and cold like the mist.

Yet it was a familiar voice. I had heard it once only in
my life before, on that midnight when I was recovering
from the poison I had taken in the dish served to the
Leader. I tried to imprint it more surely on my brain, to
recognize it hereafter. "So," I said. It must never be
made public that at this hour I was returning from the
von Arnheims — that would wreck everything. And more
than this I felt that there was some subtler danger to me
in being seen with this tall cloaked officer. The mist, at
least, shrouded both of us, so that to any passing we would
have seemed two grotesque hobgoblins vomited up out of
the fog's gray belly.

"I am sorry it was you again." His voice was quiet. "He
twists about like an eel — you never know where he is.
We wanted him gone before the Old Man dies."

"We?" I parried.

He shrugged. "There is luck in the third attempt."

OF ADOLF HITLER 177

"And then?" More and more embarrassed at this strange
encounter, I turned him away from the fog-shrouded
Chancellery, even though it was all needful I slip in there
soon.

"You have two futures open before you," he spoke
ahead idly. "One, after the great event happens, is to
hold the lead for life in Hollywood pictures dealing with
the Branau swine. The other. . . . You will see, you will
see."

"What great event?" I demanded.

"Look up Ides of March in the German calendar," he
said. "I leave you." With an ironic "Heil Tod!" he swung
off abruptly into the fog.

With troubled heart I groped through the swirling fog
then for the entrance to the Chancellery. Within the hour,
I was summoned in as a bodyguard. I knew already that
the Leader felt more drawn to me than ever, by this
second time that I had inadvertently saved his life. A
stunt man, called on to substitute when the star was afraid
to play some risky part in his life. . . . My lips curled
with a little faint scorn of modern dictators. Grant that
it was all-vital to preserve his life by all possible means,
by sacrificing me and double after double forever, I could
not imagine Wilhelm Tell employing a double to shoot
the arrow at the apple on his son's head and then wave
the final one at the tyrant Gessler. ... I could not
imagine Luther employing a double to nail the theses on
the church door. ... Or Barbarossa standing safely
hidden, while a double led some great charge for the
Fatherland.

I found Goebbels and von Arnheim closeted with the
Leader. My eyes widened with horror at sight of von

i 7 8

THE STRANGE DEATH

Arnheim. So he had been suddenly summoned back to
Berlin, and he might have come to his apartment first,
and then, a surprise not so pleasant for any of us! God
takes care of lovers. . . . They returned my salute
swiftly, as if not seeing me. Hitler's face was more drawn
than usual, Goebbels' more cynical and sardonic, von
Arnheim's ruddy and furious.

"I know, I know, I know," he snapped it out like a live
wire grounded. "You have done much. It is not enough!
Some morning you will wake up and find Roehm the new
Chancellor, and a dozen Little Adolfs can't save you
then!"

"I wouldn't let him dissolve the Stahlhelm — "

"At best, he himself dictated the terms of the compro-
mise; and, if you please, it's a reserve in his own damned
SA now! Do you think that the Reichswehr doubt, now,
that his next effort will be to get the whole Reichswehr
inside the Brownshirts! If the tent will not admit the
camel, he will swallow the tent! I tell you, Herr Reichs-
kanzler, the man is a constant threat!"

Hitler looked increasingly unhappy. "I tell you, he is
my friend. Is friendship nothing? Leave him to me. I'll
make him behave."

"Friend!" sneered Goebbels. Somehow he painted the
one word so that it meant murderer.

"Damn it, Arnheim, you know I sent Ribbentrop to
France and the League, offering them to lop and slice off
so many and so many more from the SA, if they'd just
forget that damned Treaty, and forget to count when I
increased the Reichswehr."

Goebbels sneered again. "Like a cheap Vienna wurst,
and you slice off each end and toss it to the dogs, eh? So

OF ADOLF HITLER 179

long as you toss Roehm along with it. It was good news
in the VB that he has a 'painful nervous disorder,' and on
the advice of his doctors he is taking an enforced vacation,
no?"

Erik von Arnheim planted himself squarely in front of
the Leader. "I tell you, it is either accept us or Germany
goes bankrupt. Suspending payment of foreign debts is
not vital, no. That was a good move. But you have read
the reports I gave you of the harvest — the worst in years
it will be! We are cut off from the world; they are calling
on us to disarm further; and, worst of all, here is your own
Chief of Staff with his knife at your throat!"

"It is not fair of you to say so, Arnheim," stormed the
Leader. "He is my friend, I tell you." There were sobs in
his voice.

"It is not that we are not behind you, dear Leader,"
protested von Arnheim. "Did not Goring say that if you
wished a Second Revolution, the last one of us would be
on the streets in half an hour? But it is that you do not
want it; and will you let Ernst Roehm make it, against
you?"

"I know you are wrong," said Hitler mournfully. "You
will see he is as faithful as any man in the Party; and
most of ah* to me. But I will have Rudolf Hess speak for
me over a nation-wide hookup, and warn both Roehm and
his SA and the Reaktion that I will tolerate no outbreak
from either. The revolution is won!" He rose to his feet,
and thrust the words out stormingly. "I will have no
rebellion, now! I have my plans — I must make all the
plans; and, if any man or group of men try to force speed
where it is wiser to me to move slowly, well — " He
brought the butt of his dogwhip down with a crash on

180 THE STRANGE DEATH

the table. Blonda awoke from a nap and growled menac-
ingly.

"Roehm is doing it. You refuse to see it," persisted
Arnheim.

"Prove to me he is doing it," Hitler faced them, cor-
nered at last, "and with my own hands I will slit his
throat!"

"We will prove it," said Goebbels silkily.

I felt that it would be healthier, at that moment, to be
in the shoes of any man in Europe, rather than in Roehm 's.

I listened to Rudolf Hess's speech on the 25 th, and I
shivered at the ungloved claws in it. I could not be sure
that the Chief of Staff, who had retired to Wiessee, saw
an interview with the Leader that appeared in the London
News Chronicle of the same day; but it spoke warningly.
of the need of divorcing himself from his friends of the
dawn of the Party's growth. Even the National Xeitung —
I still pored over the Basle papers, for now and then there
was some reference to relatives or friends I had there — gave
me something new to ponder: that the Leader planned,
the moment Hindenburg died, to become both Chancellor
and President, and that the laws had already been drawn
up for this. A Pooh-Bah, Arnheim had called it. I doubted
if it was so; but so it was that the Leader sounded out
opinion before he acted. The account went on that the
national Bolshevists in the party were about to be elim-
inated — which should have been warning enough to
Wiessee, though the Party press said the same thing of
the Reaktion. If he eliminated both, what would be left?
Hitler and myself only: and that would be a too small
Germany.

A notice, signed by the Leader, came to all the SA

OF ADOLF HITLER 181

leaders In the Reich to appear on the 30th in Wiessee.
Roehm gave out an interview, in which he said the last
one of the Storm Troopers was ready to die for the Haken-
kreuz — the swastika. The night of the 28 th, von Arnheim
flew down to Munich, to make God knows what hellish
preparations.

At least it gave me the opportunity to repay him for
his treachery to revolutionary principles by having a most
enjoyable night with Ulrica. I knew that she would, first
of all, want to know the precise situation. But she was
wrapped up heart and soul in the fight Roehm was making
to radicalize the party, to make it live up to the last
syllable of the long outdated Party platforms, to force
the Leader to carry out his pledges, and to eliminate capi-
talism and its worst evils in the Reich. This had now
become entirely untactful — that much Hitler himself had
explained to me. But would you expect a woman to under-
stand that? The female mind does not lend itself readily
to abstract thought; it is personal and not cosmic like
man's: like mine, for instance, or the Leader's. So, when
she did ask me what was the news from the tense front,
it was quite a problem what I should tell her.

Naturally, I could not reveal any confidences — at least,
none beyond those I thought it wise to reveal. It might
be a great mistake to let her understand what seemed now
more than possible. She might try to notify Roehm; and
that would be a tragedy, if the Leader did not wish him
notified. After all, he and the Chief of Staff might be
preparing a secret coup that would land Goring and Arn-
heim and the rest of the Reaktion behind prison bars. So
some of the Party press hinted. What a misfortune, if
she were allowed to interfere with that! One thing at least

182

THE STRANGE DEATH

was certain: she would become sad and perhaps tearful,
and a woman is not at her best for pleasure when she has
tears in her eyes over some outside matter, remote from
the concern of one and one. It would be actually unfair
to me for me to make her sad, at a time when I needed
most of all to have my mind taken off this depressing
situation throughout the Reich. She would never want to
be unfair to me; so the only wise thing would be to drop
a few hints that things were going better than she hoped
for, and thus she and I would be released for the maximum
of enjoyment out of the precious hours.

So I decided, and so I did. She responded beyond my
most ardent expectations. She even whispered to me, with
oh such a shy pride, that she expected a little stranger in
about seven months, and that there were strong reasons
why it would be only fair to name him Little Adolf. —
Might she tell her husband about it?

I saw no reason he should not know the good luck in
store for him; a husband cannot remain entirely blind
forever, and he would be sure to notice, sooner or later.
Moreover, I pointed out, it would give her a splendid
excuse to sleep alone from now on, for the sake of the
little Reichminister yet to be.

— But it seemed a bit unfair to him, she adjudged at
first. And then her face dimpled. — Did I really wish it?
Perhaps it was her duty to save all his energies for the
Party and Germany, she suggested.

Naturally, I approved. Surely we could together do that
much for the Party and the Fatherland!

We clinked glasses on it, and indeed she kissed my hand
for my thoughtfulness. She gave herself to me with in-
creased abandon, more than ever convinced of the depth

OF ADOLF HITLER 183

of my devotion. It is the pleasantest mood in which to
keep a woman. I was prouder than ever that I had pre-
vented her from one night's unnecessary worry.

An hour before dawn, to avoid undesired company on
the way back to the Chancellery, I returned to my room.

This was the morning of June 29th.

I knew that the Leader had flown down to Essen the
day before to attend some wedding. Yet here came for
me a summons to the Chancellor's reception room. I
entered. Only Goebbels was present. The vulture-like
Minister of Propaganda clicked his heels together and
threw up his arm in a mock salute. "Heil Hitler!" he
jeered, his eyes glittering blackly. "Well, my dear friend,
you and I take wings now and join the Leader."

"But what comes next?" I asked, a little wearily. For I
distrusted this wicked little gnome more than anyone in
the party, and always shivered when I was close to him:
a foul little Loki, plotting only evil.

"To put a period to what the Fates have written," he
declaimed sonorously. "You saw the Volkischer Beobachter
yesterday: von Blomberg accepts the new government and
its Leader entirely; he will today say it over the air to all
Germany. So we have our Reichswehr. You and I, we will
do a little inspecting of the labor detachments in the
Rhine country with Herr Reichskanzler." His voice was
too casual. "Labor, you know, needs the overseer's eye
forever." He seemed to be using just words; to be saying
everything but what he meant.

"You say we," I protested. "I do not remain here?"

"Would it surprise you," he beamed hideously, spilling
some of it at last, "to know that we know now even the

THE STRANGE DEATH

name of the man Ernst Roehm has appointed to assassinate
the Leader?"

"Dear God forbid! You are joking, Herr Reichs-
rninister!"

"When I joke," he snickered, "I bury my jokes. But
this is no joke, no. This man will be shot — have no fear
of that. I may even let you shoot him, and stand by and
applaud you as you pour blazing lead into his body. It
is blazing lead we are using now, Little Adolf — he will
not be the only one who will be shot!"

"But this is incredible! To plot to kill Herr Hitler!"

"Life is incredible; Germany by all odds the most in-
credible part of it; and death, as it will come to some,
most incredible of all. Erik von Arnheim went down to
Munich yesterday to make sure of it. He has the signed
confession of one of the Storm Trooper colonels who was
party to the plot. The man took his own life, immediately
after signing. Ach, death!" Goebbels chuckled without
mirth. "There will be many who will envy him by this
hour tomorrow!"

"I go, then." I sighed, for last night had been so de-
licious. And there would be others to die. What a pity,
in a way, von Arnheim was not of the Roehm party, so
that the way could have been rendered a little smoother
for me with Ulrica. But I had her word as to how she
would gull him off. There were always important trips he
could take; and one does not want to dine at even the
Kaiserhof nightly.

And then, my face expressed bewilderment. "But we
go to inspect labor-camps, at a time when there is a plot
against the Leader's life!"

"One does not call 'Ready?' when one is about to serve

OF ADOLF HITLER 185

to traitors. We have had much trouble, Little Adolf; this
will end it. We do not use castor oil for a purge, in Ger-
many. This one will be thorough. All the dung will be
gotten rid of, for good."

"Every healthy body needs a systematic evacuation now
and then." I managed to smile as I said it. It is hard to
smile at Goebbels. I remembered a spitting cobra from
lower Africa in the great Hagenbeck zoological gardens
at Hamburg. He has no hood, his head is small and needle-
like; but his beady eyes have a malevolence that few snakes
possess; and he has the ability to spit his venom nine or
ten feet, aimed directly at the eyes of the annoying great
mammal. Men are blinded when his venom strikes. I
have always felt toward Goebbels as I felt toward that
spitting cobra.

"Let us commemorate the great hero of the Sturmabtei-
lung by forever printing his picture on toilet paper," he
sneered evilly. "Come, Little Adolf. The Leader will be
anxious. The plane awaits."

i86

THE STRANGE DEATH

CHAPTER Xm

SPILT BLOOD AT WIESSEE

THREE of us stood in the sickly darkness on the ter-
race of the Godesberg Hotel. If I ever saw torture
on the face of living man or woman, it was on Adolf Hit-
ler's that night. I have seen crowds of tens of thousands
dazed and hypnotized under the spell of his eloquence,
which is equaled by no man living, and perhaps has never
been equaled on the face of the man-stricken earth. So
Hitler stood, at this moment, so dazed, so hypnotized.
There was consecration in his eyes; but it seemed to me
to be consecration to the powers of darkness, the powers
of death.

Nor could I be sure what had hypnotized him. I stared
with utter repugnance at the emaciated imp of the per-
verse, the gnome-like spirit of evil that stood smiling with
arched, gloating eyes at the Leader, unobserved, as he
thought — too arrogant in his moment to mind observation.
Had he cast the spell? And then I shook my head. Part
of it, perhaps: "the imp tempted me, and I fell." But this
was the work of a myriad of voices, and one stronger than
all the rest: the voice that itself had so often reduced tens
of thousands to dazed hypnotized infantilism.

A square of flimsy shivered in his trembling hand. He
steadied his hand against the stonework, and read it

OF ADOLF HITLER

187

again. Then he crushed it into a shapeless unrecognizable
wad, and thumbed it out into the darkness.

" 'A strong man is the strongest when alone,' " quoted
Goebbels quietly.

I shivered, as the familiar specter of Mein Kampf came
back to haunt its author.

"Always," said the Leader, his voice heavy.

" 'There can only be victory in winning the people's
soul if, while we struggle to express it, we destroy also
those who oppose it,' " chanted the vindictive pigmy,
sonorously.

"Naturally," sighed the Leader.

The Wunderbar chorus lilted from the orchestra
through the window, with the ageless Viennese magic:

Kissing can be no sin,
When a sweet girl you win;
When rosy lips are near,
Possess them every hour.
Gather the roses gay
That bloom beside your way;
Take what is due to you,
Lest others win your due.

A girl, she seemed hardly more, darted out of the door
and into the thick covert of potted evergreens in the
deepest shadow of the terrace. Her voice came dripping
with soft, hot laughter. "Fritzie, Fritzie, stop! If once my
husband guessed. . . ."

The Leader's voice came heavily. "I have counted him
my best friend for fourteen years already now."

" 'Et tu, Brute?' "

An orderly stumbled running up the steps, righted him-

i88

THE STRANGE DEATH

self, clicked his heels together, flung forward his arm in
salute. "Heil Hitler!"

The Leader returned the salutation, and took the
envelop.

He was reading it when a second orderly clanked more
methodically up, step by step, and went through the
same ritual. The Leader laid the first sheet of flimsy on the
stonework of the terrace. He opened the second dispatch,
read it, and reread it, and laid it on the first sheet. The
two envelops fluttered to the stone flooring. A gust of
wind whimsically snatched up one and rolled it edgewise
along the leveled stones toward where the girl-wife had
disappeared and a breathing silence had followed. The
Leader took a step forward, his heel grinding the second
into the stones.

"My friends," he said quietly, and we were the only
two within reach of his voice, except the slim young
orderly and the huge-faced other one — but he seemed to
speak to the great allness of Germany, which alone was
his friend — "from Munich, from Berlin, news has come.
It is so serious, we must fly at once to Munich. The plane
is ready, Goebbels?"

"Yes, Herr Hitler."

"Good. We go."

He stood, alone, black, solitary. His arm sloped forward
to salute the darkness. "Heil Hitler!" He clanked down
the steps to the cars waiting below, the orderlies just
behind him. Faithful Bruckner and Schaub and half a
dozen more, who had been waiting in plain sight of him,
but a dozen steps below, formed a protective constellation
around him. The orchestra had swung into the languorous
Liistige Wittue waltz now. Goebbels, clubfoot and all,

OF ADOLF HITLER 189

rounded his arm with a horrid smirk, and took two or
three macabre waltz steps toward the beginning of the
descent. It was as if a smirking skeleton was his partner
for the waltz. His face altered suddenly to demoniac fury,
and more carefully he thumped down the steps. I followed,
my heart sick. Yet so must the Party's future be assured.

At the aerodrome, the vast swastikaed planes roared to.
pulsing life. We climbed precariously in, and felt the
earth thumping away behind us, and then no earth at all,
only the conquered air. Off through the sickly blackness
we roared, bearing the hope of all Germany, of all of
man's future, with us. At four o'clock, gray waking the
ending black, our plane slid to a perfect three-point
landing in the Munich aerodrome.

"Ach, good," greeted the Munich head of the Black-
shirts, as he went through the full ritual of the salute.
"You have come."

"What is the last report?"

The Bavarian drew himself proudly erect. "All the local
leaders of the Storm Troopers are under arrest, Herr
Leader. Several — " his smirk broadened, " — resisted arrest.
They were shot."

"Naturally. And — the ringleaders?" I noticed that he
did not pronounce the name of the Chief of Staff.

"Still at Wiessee, Herr Reichskanzler."

Hitler for one moment had the same ghastly look of
indecision I had seen on the terrace of the Godesberg
Hotel.

Goebbels prompted him, a sardonic glitter in his eye.
"No doubt they think you are afraid to venture into their
den."

The Leader tossed his head, the stray lock flapping

i 9 o THE STRANGE DEATH

savagely over his left eye. "For the Reich, for the Party,
there can be no fear. My friends, forward!"

There were cars of heavily armed Blackshirts leading the
way. Then came our car, with Bruckner and Schaub, the
Leader and myself. Goebbels followed with three more of
the raiding party. After our third car came two more
cars heavy with Blackshirts. We nosed our way through
the gray foggy dawn roads, our headlights blurring as the
sky brightened.

At six, we drove up to the Gasthouse Heinzlbauer. A
sleepy night clerk opened the door, and moved back aghast,
arms high, at the sight of the drawn revolvers. Even I had
my gun out. The Leader had his revolver in his left hand,
his worn dogwhip in his right.

"Show us your register," demanded Hitler authorita-
tively.

"Come on, lad, if you want to see the fun!" One of the
local Blackshirts I had met at the Chancellery in Berlin
linked arms with me. He pulled me, racing to the top of
the first flight of stairs, and nodded approval to a huge
mountainous fellow behind him. This man crashed his
shoulder against the heavy door before which we had
stopped. It splintered open.

There on the bed was a sight I had never seen before —
two men, naked, not asleep, doing a forbidden thing to
each other. Good God, the one who raised his head first
to stare at me was Major General Edmund Heines, in
charge of all the Storm Troopers in Silesia. He still moved
his body, as he stared at us. "Swine, what do you mean,
breaking in — "

"Perverts! Sons of bitches!" With infinite relish the
Blackshirt beside me placed his pistol beside the general's

OF ADOLF HITLER

191

head, and pulled the trigger. There was a loud crash and a
burst of smoke that made the air acrid. The general's
body settled down above the legs of the other man. Blood
and a strange graying matter blown from his head sprayed
the bed and the other man's body. I heard another shot,
and another scream, and more and more shots. Some of
them were to mutilate. All I could see was the staring, light
blue eyes, wide open, of the dead general, under that
awful wound which had blown away the top of his skull.
My stomach retched, and I held on to the jamb of the door
to relieve myself upon the hall carpet. I stood there, trying
to regain control of myself. A young man, naked, ran
screaming from another door they had crashed open. They
shot him as he ran,. and he fell twitching in my vomit.
Somehow the sight seemed to give me courage.

They were coming up the stairs, now, the Leader with
a face pale as putty, Goebbels thumping eagerly beside
him. "It is Room Seven," said Goebbels, his voice shivering
with mad excitement. "We go there, no?"

I fell in beside Bruckner and Schaub, my stomach still
twitching, until the mass of us halted outside Room Seven.
Goebbels nodded peremptorily. Hitler's mouth trembled
once more, he lifted his dogwhip; he pounded with all
his might upon the door with the butt of the whip, as if
he would break the door open so. "Open the door!" he
screamed. "Damn you, open the door!"

A sleepy voice answered — I recognized at once the voice
of the Chief of Staff. "Ach, yes, but who is it, at an hour
" like this!"

"It's I — Hitler! Open the door, and let me in!"

"Holy God, you already? I thought it was to be noon — "

Roehm, in scarlet-striped pajamas through which his

192 THE STRANGE DEATH

belly bulged above the pants, had the door open, and stood
staring sleepily at us. His hand went up in slow salute.
"Heil Hitler!"

"You damned pervert," shrieked Hitler, advancing on
him, shaking the dogwhip while he raised his revolver.
"You dirty traitor — "

"Steady, steady! What in God's name does this mean?
— Blackshirts?" in sudden suspicion. "I see now, eh, you
bastard? You've betrayed me! You've broken the promise
you—"

"The Reich keeps no word with perverts, pederasts, vile
scum that corrupt the youth of Germany! You will have
a Second Revolution, eh, you dirty swine!"

"God damn you, Adolf Hitler, you masturbating
bastard, how the hell have you got the nerve to talk to me!
I may like men, but I'm no . . ." The vile abuse that
poured from his hps made me want to vomit again.

"I've lied and protected you for years — "

"You're a traitor to the Party, a traitor to the Reich,
a dirty Jewish Judas to your friends! A Jewish whore is
cleaner than you, you swine! Just let me get my hands
on a gun — "

"Friends, handcuff him! He's about to attack me!"
Hitler's voice rose to a screech, as he hid his body half
behind the huge bulk of Bruckner.

Here at the door was the frightened face of the land-
lord. His pajamaed arm rose in a weak "Heil Hitler!"
He owled at the guest struggling in the arms of the Black-
shirts and bodyguards. "What goes on here, Herr
Kanzler?"

"Take him away, the filthy pervert!" screeched Hitler.
"Take him away, before I kill him myself! He tried to

OF ADOLF HITLER 193

attack me!" He seemed capable of it, too, if he could
have remembered to transfer his pistol to his right hand.

The Leader was sobbing, as he walked ahead of all of
us down to the cars. The danger was over. The plot against
his life had been smashed. The Reich, the Party, had been
saved. The Leader still sobbed.

We were driven to the headquarters of the Blackshirts
in Munich. The head of the Munich Blackshirts appeared,
his smirk broader, and saluted. "Of the Chief of Staff,
General Roehm — what are we to do with him?"

Hitler looked Goebbels full in the face. The command
in the face of the warped little dwarf was inexorable.
The Leader handed me his pistol, butt toward me. "This,"
he gasped. "Give it to him. Tell him to shoot himself.
I — I must phone Goring it is time to begin his Purge, in
Berlin. Give it to him, Little Adolf." His eyes were pools
of stark horror.

This was an assignment far more to my liking. It was
the first time I had been given the opportunity to do
something beyond return salutes. Of course, it was merely
after all being a messenger boy, in one sense; but it was
a message of no light importance.

I arrived at the cell. Two Blackshirts stood guard within
it as I talked to him. He was sitting in his shirtsleeves, his
head clenched in his hands, as I entered. He stood up
heavily, and recognized me. "Well, Max Bauer," he said.
His nostrils curled evilly.

"You know me better than that," I reminded him,
stiffening. "I am Ludwig Zeit, the Leader's bodyguard."

"From Passau, no? I know too damned much. That's
what men get in trouble for, in this world. Well, what
now? What terms does he offer, now?"

194 THE STRANGE DEATH

I had the pistol in my right hand, its butt toward him.
He had not noticed it. I flicked out my right hand from
the elbow down, presenting it to him. "From the Leader,"
I said. I was rather proud of that presentation. I had
thought it over carefully, and even rehearsed that flick of
the hand from the elbow down; and I could not imagine
a more dramatic way of giving it to him.

"So," he said. "From the Leader, no?" He stared at it
curiously, not touching it. "We have shared one gun
before, he and I. But is that enough with which to shoot
my way out of this nest of reactionary traitors? Take it
back to the Leader," he was still careful of his words,
"and tell him to send me one regiment of my Brownshirts,
and I will face every dirty son of a bitch of a Judas in
the Party with it, and still give Germany what the Party
promised. So tell him. Go."

I put the pistol down on the table before him. "But
that is not the answer he wants," I objected.

"He wants, eh? What does he want?"

I stiffened up. "A brave man shoots himself, rather than
face disgraceful death," I explained.

"Oh, he does, does he? Did Adolf tell you to give me
that popgun to blow my brains out with, maybe? By God,
it is his own revolver."

"So is his desire, General," I said meticulously.

"So is his desire, eh! The hell you say! But dung! Tell
the bastard I checked my brains, when I trusted a double-
dealing, double-crossing, self-polluting son of a bitch like
him!"

My face must have shown the utter shock I felt. "But,
General he is offering you this, instead of having you
executed! You know Goring and his ax — "

OF ADOLF HITLER 195

"For being his friend! For being the friend of the Party,
of the Reich! For making the little self -strumpet, and
giving him the Chancellorship, and — Oh, Christ! You can
never see, Little Adolf. But he — he will see. Tell him this,
God damn his dungy soul to hell! Tell him I am in a cell:
that he put me in it. Me — Ernst Roehm, who loves him
still, damn him. Tell him here is his popgun — I send it
back to him. Tell him to come and shoot me, if he's got
any guts at all — and I doubt it. Tell him that! Tell him
he's the only dog low enough to do it. Dung! Good day."

There was no use trying to argue with a man so excited,
who had lost all real sense of values. I picked up the pistol
and returned to the Leader. I gave him the sense of the
message, omitting the irrelevant, emotional part, which
one had to forgive Captain Roehm in his disturbed state
of mind.

The Leader studied my face as I spoke, his own face
pinched. "I believe with a regiment of Brownshirts he
could do much," he said. "We started with less. Ach God,
so much less! Thanks, Little Adolf." He slipped the pistol
back into his holster and turned away with a start as
Goebbels came into the room.

"First reports from Berlin!" he said, jubilantly. "He has
started! God, what a cleanup!"

We were still getting reports from Berlin — it was well
after four o'clock — when Goebbels suddenly turned to
the Leader. "Has Roehm shot himself?"

"How do I know?" snapped the Leader. And then, with
a sudden startled glance at me, "Did he shoot himself as I
ordered, Little Adolf?"

"Ach, no, Herr Hitler. He will not shoot hiffiself, he
says. He says for you to shoot him," I explained simply. I

i 9 6 THE STRANGE DEATH

could not believe he was so forgetful. It must have been
that Goebbels' presence made some difference.

"I told you so!" snapped Goebbels. "You wish to have
him shot, no? We must go back to Berlin within the hour."

"So," said the Leader. "Little Adolf," he stared at me,
with a sort of film over his eyes, like a dog whose eye is
running, "you have your service revolver? Good. Do what
Herr Goebbels says. Go and shoot my Chief of Staff. Ernst
Roehm. My Ernst." Out of the dead pause, he suddenly
snapped his head up, and smiled as on the morning he
first met me. "Then we return, no?

I clicked my heels proudly together, and gave the salute
and the "Heil Hitler!" The Leader returned it, but his
hand shook. I swung abruptly on my heels, and returned
to the cell.

I did not go in, this time. The two Blackshirts waited
outside with me.

Captain Roehm was writing at a table when I arrived.
He looked up, saw me, and waved with a wry look at me.
He started to add a word to what he was writing, but
instead he jabbed the pen back in the potato. He was look-
ing better than in the morning, yes. He came over to the
bars of the cell. "Well?" he asked. "You gave him my
message? What does he say?"

I felt rather better even than this morning. This was
far different from returning salutes or acting as a mes-
senger boy. I pulled out my service revolver and aimed at
his heart through the bars of the cell. "He said you must
die for the perverted dog you are, for the Party, and the
Reich, aad Germany above everything!"

He walked backward to the table, and steadying himself

OF ADOLF HITLER i 97

with both his hands pressed against it behind his back,
"You are joking," he said.

I had never shot a man before, like this; there was no
use to make a botch of the job. I let the barrel rest on the
crossbar of the cell, took a rather good bead on a medal on
the left breast, and shifted the end of the barrel slightly
to the right. I pulled the trigger, and was myself startled
at the kick, the sudden blast, the smoke.

On his breast I saw' the little hole, no more. It may be
that it is hard to hit a man's heart. His right hand rose,
but more slowly than usual, to the salute. "Heil Hitler!"
he said.

By this time, eye lower, right at the butt, I had aimed
at the middle of the forehead. I pulled the trigger again,
and this time I prepared my wrist against the faint kick-
back; there was none noticeable. I have observed that it
is always wise to learn from the first shot, and make the
second a more thorough and efficacious job.

The difference chiefly was, almost at the same time I
saw the round hole in his forehead, I may just as well
insist at the same time, I saw the blood spurt out. It was
strange how long he stood there and did not move; and I
watched and did not move. There was a sort of wavy
motion in what he did then. He moved his head back and
his shoes forward. It seemed he was swaying back and
forth; his waist was below the table now, and going
lower. He did not stretch out full length on the floor,
the way they say a person who is shot stretches out. Even
the table fell, and it was his huge rump that was closest
to me at the end, and his face and his head entirely con-
cealed. But there was no reason to think I had not done a
good job.

i 9 8 THE STRANGE DEATH

"He is dead?" I asked the Lieutenant of the Blackshirts,
who had watched it all carefully.
"Beyond doubt," he said.

"We can return, then," I said. And then I smiled. "But
pardon." I broke the revolver — it had ejected the two used
shells — and refilled it from my belt. I slipped it back into
the holster. "Now we can return," I said.

And so, with much relief, I returned to the Leader, for
this time there had been no obstacle to his will.

OF ADOLF HITLER

199

CHAPTER XIV

THE PURGE IN BERLIN

I THINK I know more of what really happened in Ber-
lin than Hitler himself was ever told. For the Leader,
once he had reached the Chancellery, retired by himself,
desperately pale and shaken. Marshal Goring and General
von Arnheim were there to report to him. It was Goebbels
and I, rather, who received the report.

"Roehm?" asked Goring* eyes intent on the inscrutable
face of the Propaganda Minister.

Goebbels flipped his hand authoritatively toward me. I
clicked my heels together, bowed my head, and gave the
Nazi salute: "Heil Hitler! I myself had the honor to
carry out the Leader's will, General, and shoot him down
for the dog he was!"
"Excellent!"

"Heines, can you believe it, the damned fool, was in bed
with his Lustknabe, Count von Spreti, if you please!"
chortled Goebbels. "In media res! In flagrante delicto! And
did they pump those perverts full of slugs! And what
they shot off wasn't their bull's-eyes, either. Is it any
wonder that those imbeciles in the United States, seeing
the Leader's former associates, men so unnatural in their
tastes, spoke of the former Chief of Staff as Hitler's wife
— and dared to picture the Leader in brassiere and panties?

200

THE STRANGE DEATH

— ach, the swine! It is things like that, that keep the rest
of the world from being civilized. But, Herr General,
what of Berlin?"

"Von Papen escaped."

"Ach, what a pity!" mourned Goebbels. "He blunders
everything, even his own getting shot, eh?"

"Well, at least, both of his secretaries, von Bose and
Jung, were put out of the way. But — von Schleicher!"

Goebbels' face lighted up. "You got one of the Chan-
cellors, eh!"

"Ach, but yes," smiled von Arnheim. "Good man, too,
for a soldier. But it simply wouldn't do to have ex-
Chancellors around with any thought of a coup in their
empty craniums."

"Arnheim was there," smiled Goring. "Tell them,
General."

"Oh, it was nothing," said von Arnheim modestly.
"The Reicbstagpraesidenfs planning was so perfect that
we arrived at his house, and he did not dream of the little
surprise we had for him. He was talking on the telephone
to some friend when we burst in and I heard him say,
'Excuse me one moment, please — someone is just entering
the room.' Ahead of me were three of the Blackshirts —
and, would you believe it, all three of them drilled him
before he could close his mouth! He had the most surprised
look on his face! It was then that his wife came rushing
in. Well, I had my revolver out, and I hadn't flushed any-
thing yet, and it was not wise to have witnesses of a thing
like that. I got a good bead on her right midway of the
forehead, just as she stood there, her hands clenched over
her heart, staring down at her husband's body. You know,
gentlemen, if I'd have had calipers to measure with, I

OF ADOLF HITLER

20I

could not have placed that shot more exactly in the center
of her forehead!"

"Colossal," grinned Goebbels sardonically. "All the wives
we shot were men."

"Aha, she was no man! I saw! It was ridiculous. She
lifted her hands, and fell back into a chair. I was not sure
then how excellent the first shot had been, and so I gave
her one more, in the heart this time. "Well, would you be-
lieve it, she and the chair went over backward! As she
fell to the floor on her head, her skirt tumbled down over
her face, and she lay there with her legs stuck up in the air
in the most absurd fashion, bare to her belly! It was a
sight. I had one of the men straighten her out on the
davenport, and we went on to the next place."

"Plenty more, eh?" beamed Goebbels.

"Ach, yes!" said Goring. "It was a purge, this time.
Listen! Gregor Strasser is gone, the boor; he'll never play
Judas again. Karl Ernst was shot on his way to Bremen,
off for a honeymoon to Madeira. He'll never boast, now,
that he fired the Reichstag! Knowledge can be too dan-
gerous. Major General von Krausser; Brigadier General
Hayn; Uhl, who was the one to shoot the Leader; Dr.
Knausler — "

"Aha! You got at the Catholics, too!"

"But yes. And Probst, too. Let him try to lead his Cath-
olic Youth movement from the cemetery, now! Von Bre-
dow— "

Goebbels nodded. "And we got, of course, General
Schneidhuber, and, better still, von Kahr. History did not
stop when he betrayed our first putsch. They dragged him
out of his bed in his nightshirt, and I hear even his body is

202

THE STRANGE DEATH

gone.* If only Briining had not been such a coward and
sneaked into Holland, disguised as a Dutch priest. . . ."

"He'll not come back, that's certain. And over two
hundred more in Berlin alone! Oh, and Ernst and Sander
died giving the salute, screeching out 'Heil Hitler!' The
poor fools thought this was a counter-revolution!"

"They should know, by now," said Goebbels. "And look.
The Leader is shaken — so? — about Roehm. I would not
tell him all that happened. Bruckner will keep an eye on
that; he is good at not letting him know more than is
good for him. He will make the official announcement of
the Purge, when he gets around to it. Meanwhile, I will
say a few things." His hard mouth pursed importantly.

"We have nothing to hide," said Goring pompously.
"The welfare of the Party and the Reich demanded that a
few traitors be shot. What more?"

"After all, when you announce Colonel Uhl had been
named to assassinate the Chancellor himself. . . ." said
Arnheim.

Goebbels nodded. "Nothing to hide, no. But Party busi-
ness is Party business, and we need announce only what
we please. Certainly that the malcontents in the Brown-
shirts have been killed, and von Schleicher and his wife.
That may be enough."

"And more than this plot, too," said Arnheim firmly.
"There will be those that know too much, if that is all we
say. This was a moral purge, too. We cleaned the homo-
sexuals out of Germany, no?"

"Well, it will be good to announce," said Goebbels
judicially. "We should not go too far, though, if we want
any Party left. That would be a purge, to get all of them!

* It was later discovered, dreadfully mutilated, in a nearby swamp.

OF ADOLF HITLER 203

But the leaders, yes; it will discourage it, naturally. But,
to the Leader himself, not too many details, gentlemen!"

So it was left. From what I saw of him in the next two
weeks, I do not believe that anything ever so shook the
Leader as what had happened — especially to Ernst Roehm.
He did not sleep for four nights, and he walked in his
sleep for long weeks after that — his guards were all warned
to guard him especially at such times. But the Propaganda
Minister kept after him, and on the 13 th, the Leader him-
self told of the purge to the Party members. One by one,
until the seventy-seven he was to announce had been
named, he read the list of Judases who had perished. He
told how insupportable Roehm's insubordination had be-
come. He told of von Schleicher's colloguing with an un-
named foreign diplomat, anckdid not mince words about
this. "I tell you members of the Party that if any traitor
to the Fatherland holds a conference with a foreign states-
man and hides it from me, even though he only chatted
about his stamp collection or the movies, I will have him
shot!" There was some applause at this, but not loud. He
rose to tremendous eloquence at the end. "It was an emer-
gency; and in an emergency I think for Germany, and act
for Germany, and am Germany! For twenty-four hours,
I was responsible for the fate of the German nation, and
thereby I was the supreme judge of the German people,
with no appeal even to God himself!" They almost tore
down the hall in their wild applause.

If the Leader was thus great in the hour of national
emergency, he was as great in meeting every problem that
confronted him, and solving with almost supernatural wis-
dom all matters that affected the Reich. I remember it was
that month also that he received a deputation headed by

20 4 THE STRANGE DEATH

the President of the University of Berlin, including all the
leading educators of Germany. They desired to learn from
his own Hps in what directions the government was going
to improve education, as we had promised. Few of the
Leader's great speeches were so statesmanlike and satur-
ated with the Nordic spirit of undying truth.

"My friends," he began, when the applause had begun
to die down, "you ask me what is our program for edu-
cation in the Reich. Let me remind you of a few vital
truths." And then, as was his custom, with incomparable
eloquence he traced the birth of the Party, its struggles at
first, the salutary effect of the failure of 1923 at Munich,
when we had not yet come to see that the Party's destiny
was alone to save Germany for the future, and when we
made the mistake of seeking to ally ourselves with bour-
geois elements, corrupted and tainted beyond recovery by
the twin poisons of Marxism and Judaism, those major
enemies of man's progress throughout the world. He led
up to a thrilling description of the Nazi revolution, and
had his auditors on fire with the glorious moment when at
last a folkic Nordic government set earnestly to work to
wipe out the foul errors of the past.

"We do not blink from facing the truths of history," he
thundered. "Germany has been raped and violated long
enough. And the tragedy to mankind is that this has been
done, in spite of the fact that the Nordic race is the only
race of supreme importance to mankind! We know that
there are three sorts of races: the creators of culture; the
maintainers of culture; and the wreckers of culture. Only
a few nations in mankind's history have been creators of
culture; and it is significant that science has admitted at
last that these all belong to the Nordic race! What culture

OF ADOLF HITLER 205

was created by the despised Jew? What by the lowly Egyp-
tian, the mongrel Babylonian, the pacifist Chinaman, the
crude savages of the Americas, Australia, Africa? Nothing!
Absolutely nothing! Their record is as blank as if they had
never existed. Science is already beginning to doubt
whether some of them did ever exist. All the culture in the
world depends upon the Nordic race, not alone for its
creation, but for its survival. If our race perishes, they
carry into the grave with them all the truth, all the genius,
all the learning, all the beauty, all the nobility of man-
kind!"

A wild storm of applause, led energetically by Goebbels,
greeted this simple enunciation of the basic postulates of
anthropological and social science.

"He's inspired," said von Arnheim devoutly. He sat on
one side of me, and the exquisite Ulrica on the other.

"If he only could always live on that high plain," mur-
mured Ulrica sadly.

"He does," I assured her. Who better than I should
know?

"I can see into the distant future, as all of us can," his
voice screeched upward in divine passion, "and I know, as
all of us know, that there will come a time when mankind
faces his problems with open and enlightened eyes. In that
hour, all nations, all races, will turn to the one noblest
race to be their undisputed leader, supported by the forces
of the whole globe; and we will not fail of our high sum-
mons in that high moment!" They almost went hysterical
at this. But the Leader hushed their rapture with firm,
monitory hands.

"You ask me to tell you of education, of whose history
and purpose you know so much better than I. As before,

zo6 THE STRANGE DEATH

the Reich will put the education of its future soldiers as
its first and paramount civic duty! The whole purpose of
education, as we all agree, is to occupy a boy's free time in
the profitable cultivation of the body he was born to tend.
We are done with idle loafing about the streets, with time-
wasting in moving picture houses saturated with the reek
of erotic stimulation. "When a boy's daily work is done,
it is time for him to harden his muscles,

. . . imitate the action of the tiger,
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood. . . .
Now set the teeth, and stretch the nostril wide,
Hold hard the breath, and bend up every spirit
To his full height!

So spoke our great Nordic poet. The boy who enters life
soft is a weakling, and the Reich has no room for him! The
function of education is not to cram the brain with gobbets
of knowledge miscalled education, but to build a body
worthy of a Nordic! And this is a responsibility that falls
upon each one of us, not an individual responsibility alone.
We have no right to let a single youth sin into weak-
ness!"

Again he hushed the tumultuous applause. "One of the
major subjects of education must be the sport of boxing,
neglected too long, for it encourages the spirit of attack
more than any other subject in the curriculum. When we
think of boxing, there are only two major names in the
world's annals — Baer and Schmeling! Is it by accident
that both are German? And each of us knows that the
finest and highest institution of national education is the
army." He beamed proudly at the President of the Uni-
versity of Berlin, as he expressed this platitude. "Never

OF ADOLF HITLER

207

think that the function of an army is to teach a youth
merely how to keep step in the ranks and stand at atten-
tion, as becomes a soldier of the Fatherland; it is to learn
from the spirit of the army that the Nordic race is uncon-
querable, by any power on the globe!"

The frenzy seemed more than the hypnotized audience
could bear. But like a trumpet came the Leader's magnifi-
cent tones. "When we teach history, it is not merely to
learn to parrot lists of names of kings and popes, and dry
dates better forgotten; it is to read the past and the present
so as to assure the perpetual existence and progress of our
superior nation! The errors of past teaching must be
purged relentlessly — " his eyes glared, and there was no one
listening who did not shiver at the memory of June 30th.
The salutary lesson had sunk in deep. "Thus we are taught
that the separate States of the United States of America
created the Union. Lies like this must be purged forever!
For we know that it was the Union itself which created
most of these miscalled States. It was the German aid to
the struggling colonies which in 1776 defeated an England
already saturated with the poison of Jewish international-
ism, and ripe for its poisonous off-spring, Marxism! The
population of North America consists almost entirely of
Nordic elements; the hour will come when we will regard
that as an outer frontier of the world-shaking Reich!

"So much for history," again stilling the applause. "As
important, today, in this age of applied mechanical mar-
vels, is science. And every one of us knows that the pur-
pose of teaching and learning science is to increase our
national pride in the advancement of the German race and
the German nation that we constitute. The whole history
of nations, even of civilization itself, must be taught as

208

THE STRANGE DEATH

one great stream leading up to German greatness, man-
kind's highest achievement! Take inventions," his hands
pleaded desperately for silence, that his pearls might not be
lost. "Take inventions. An inventor is not great merely be-
cause of his invention; but because he is a fellow German!
If you take away the German inventors, who are left? But
hear the roll of the world's major inventors! Gutenberg,
von Kleist, Bunsen, Mitterhoffer, Hertz, Otto, Benz, Wels-
bach, Hoffman, Diesel, Haber, Ehrlich, Berliner, Lilienthal,
Jatho, Mond — what names are fit to be mentioned beside
these? And even if we look at a foreign land, such as the
United States of America, what names do we find but
Schnebley, Westinghaus, Eickemeyer, Brusch, Watermann,
Mergenthaler, Shallenberger, Baekeland — Germans to the
last one of them! Creativeness is an exclusively Nordic
attribute; invention began and ended with the German
people. So let us hail our fellow-countrymen, primarily
because they are Nordic, and secondarily because they have
lived up to the best of the Nordic tradition, and have
benefited the Fatherland, and so the world! As with great
deeds, so with inventions: our major pride will forever be
that the fortunate doer and inventor are Nordic, and hence
of mankind's superior race! Heil Hitler!"

They rose as one body, one heart, one soul, to return the
great salute.

A message was handed to the Leader, even as he was
about to return, weary and sweating, to his seat. He waved
the frenzy to silence. "I am asked to say a word about fe-
male education, which is of course essential, since we
treasure the women of the Reich as the mothers of the race.
Female education. ... It does not take so many words.
Bodily training! That of course will receive the major

OF ADOLF HITLER 209

stress. First, last, and always, the training of the woman's
body. Let her have strong legs, to support her body while
it works, to bring her to her home and husband and young
when day is over. Let her have strong arms, for work and
to hold her babies suckling at her breasts. Let her have
well-developed breasts, to nourish the soldiers of tomorrow.
Let her have a strong well-developed thorax and abdomen,
that she may breathe to her maximum efficiency, so? Let
her have a well-developed pelvis, kept supple by daily exer-
cise, that her birth-pains may be less. Let her have a fecund
uterus, to bear children worthy of our great fate!"

His hands battered feebly against the solid flood of ap-
plause. "Beyond this," he had to repeat it, "beyond this,
there must be character, there must be morals, there must
be a proper attitude toward her husband, lord and master.
And I will not deny that, since the son inherits much from
his mother, her intellect should not be entirely neglected.
But first, last, and all the time, the bodily development of
the mothers of tomorrow — the educated Nordic mothers
of all tomorrows!"

There were tears in the eyes of the aged President of
the University of Berlin, as the Leader reached this mag-
nificent peroration. "Never have I understood education
so," he almost sobbed. There were tears in my eyes. Ger-
many could not fail, with such a redeemer to lead it to its
destiny!

2IO

THE STRANGE DEATH

CHAPTER XV

"UNTO ME ALL POWER IS GIVEN—"

WHEN we returned to the Chancellery from the
Leader's great speech on education, even the outer
offices of the great building throbbed with a tense excite-
ment. Inside was Erik von Arnheim, straight from a con-
fidential mission to Vienna.

The Leader greeted him warmly. "Well, it is to be the
Anschluss, when?"

Von Arnheim shrugged. "That damned Austrian
Schlamperei! * They have forgotten already why they
should want the union!" ,

"They have become contaminated by Jews and clericals.
I will drill that out of them. You told them, as I said?"

The special envoy nodded. "With all the frills in the
world, Herr Hitler. You are Austrian; it is your country;
they are your own people; and naturally they should look
to your genius to rule it. Again, we can develop the Styrian
iron deposits far better than they. Again, Czechoslovakia
and how much more was stolen from them by the de-
mocracies, and you will restore it to the united Reich —
yourself, the avenger of Austria's shame. Again, they are
Germans, six and a half million of them, and they should
march beside their brothers under the swastika. One cab-
inet member spat, when I mentioned it."

* Slovenliness, sloppiness, amiable casualness.

OF ADOLF HITLER

211

I shuddered.

Hitler scowled ominously. "Ugh, unbelievable! Record
his name; he'll get his reward. They refuse the Anschluss,
no?"

Von Arnheim's hands spread, suavely. "Ach, Leader,
you did not send me to fail! It will come; of course,
through our Nazis there. As you pointed out to me," — I
was always amused at the way each close satellite toadied
to Hitler, giving him credit in the aggregate for every
brilliant thought that anyone had — "this four and a half
foot dwarf of a Chancellor, Herr Dollfuss, stands in the
way. Well, we have a prescription for that." His hand
gestured as if slitting his own throat, his lips tchk'd once.

"A clerical, and all clericals are swine! You told them
that every loyal Nordic would see to it he eliminated a
Catholic Chancellor, of course?"

"Indeed yes. I reminded them that these dastardly cler-
icals had destroyed all the magnificent work of the Vienna
Socialists — who certainly must have been inspired with
Nordic ideals, the way they rebuilt — with their artillery,
their bombs — and a thousand men, women and children
brutally murdered. Even his guild government is a papal
invention; and what the pope touches, he fouls. And they
are ready — ready to act, now!"

"Anything definite?" asked Goebbels. He had flinched
when Dollfuss's height was mentioned. He was sensitive
about dwarfs.

Von Arnhiem nodded. "I suggested the 25 th of this
month. It may be peaceful, of course; though, after June
30th here — "

Hitler shivered, as he still did at all mention of that day.
"It will help greatly. In spite of the Purge, the harvest is

212

THE STRANGE DEATH

execrable, and there are more scowls than I like to see. We
have promised the Anschluss to the Party. It will pull their
minds off their bellies."

Goebbels shook his head doubtfully. "Only if it suc-
ceeds. They are slipshod, lazy, these Austrians. But I'll get
all the propaganda written in advance — I'll even have
photographs of Rintelen as the new Chancellor spread
broadcast, for release the 25th. The planes will be ready
to fly the Austrian Nazi exiles back to Vienna. We won't
fail!"

But the 25th must, of course, be the Bayreuth Festival,
and not even a revolution could keep the Leader away
from Wagner. It was Gotterdammerung that afternoon,
and I was not to take word in to Hitler unless it was im-
perative. Even before the opera started, he received word
that one Nazi renegade had confessed the whole plot. Just
as the curtain went up, word came that it had taken too
long for his confession to reach the cabinet, and the putsch
would succeed anyway. These Austrians! Even Hitler,
when I carried this word to him, said irritably, "Ach, but
of course! Get out, get out! The overture commences. . .

The radio announced that the putsch had succeeded —
that Dollfuss indeed had been shot! This was more likely,
but hardly enough to interrupt Wagner for. And then,
reports grew vaguer, more confusing: Rintelen hadn't ar-
rived; he was in prison; the putsch was a success; what
was the Leader's word? And with it a last minute dis-
patch from the Italian frontier that Goebbels brought over
to give to the Leader in person.

It was the final chords rolling despairingly out, now,
with the German gods dead at last, and their heaven ended
forever. Goebbels stood silent, in spite of the importance

OF ADOLF HITLER 213

of his message, until the final note died away. He pulled
Hitler to one side and showed him the last message first.

Hitler's face grew hard. "Damn that greasy Italian! So,
he'll occupy Austria in twenty-four hours, if the putsch
succeeds! Why didn't he keep his t filthy hands off our in-
ternal affairs?"

Von Arnheim looked glum. "If you had been there to
direct them. . . ."

"I will be, next time. Any more death notices?" He
scowled at the opportunity lost.

Goebbels smiled evilly. "Hindenburg is sinking."

"Thank God for that!" said the Leader devoutly.
"Maybe some good news happens soon!" And then, as we
sat at dinner, "This Austrian debacle seems unimportant
to me. No more than a postponement, at worst. How they
can worship the gods they do! I have spent the afternoon
living with real gods — the great German gods! Surely, in
Wagner, they are more alive than ever — and eternally!"

"I suppose it is their religion that's at fault," said Goeb-
bels thoughtfully. "It's usually at the base of most human
stupidity. They're rank with Catholicism — and the plot
and counterplot to get Austria more fully under the pope's
thumb is unbelievable!"

The Leader smiled, a sly glitter in his eye. "Rosenberg
says that this Jesus is the most contemptible god any race
or people ever worshipped. It isn't just that he was cruci-
fied like a common criminal — but the things that led up
to it! The flagellation — the torture — "

"The Passion of Jesus?" I asked. "The Stations of the
Cross?"

"That, and more," said von Arnheim authoritatively.
"Now, to begin with, all this is done to God himself — ex-

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THE STRANGE DEATH

isting before Time began, creator of the earth and the
whole universe, who displayed his backsides to Moses — so
the Old Testament says — and then split himself into three
that still continued one — "

"Such bosh!" interjected the Leader.

"But how convenient! As God the Father, he creates
Mary, his daughter, then a Jewess married to the Jew
Joseph. As God the Holy Ghost he makes her pregnant; as
God the Son, Jesus, he is born out of her Jewish womb! As
if that were not contemptible enough, he permits himself
to suffer every indignity a masochist could desire — and all
at a time when he is boasting his 'heavenly Father' could
send twenty divisions of angels to rescue him, if he wished
it! Read the details in Matthew — a few less in Mark — less
still in Luke, and John adding a few — why, there's noth-
ing that we do to the Jews in the concentration camps they
didn't do to him, with his permission, if you please! He
was blindfolded, slapped in the face, they spat in his face
repeatedly, the Jews beat him, Pilate had him scourged —
and you can be sure the Roman made the blood stream
down! — they beat him on the head, gave him vinegar and
gall to drink, and then nailed his hands and feet to the
cross, and let him hang there between two dying thieves
until he died. Is it any wonder that, ever since, the Chris-
tians have formed flagellation sects, and welcomed on their
own bodies the ecstatic agonies of the beatings and other
indignities given to their Jesus!"

"Isn't there a sect in Berlin that commemorates the
crucifixion annually?" smiled the Leader.

"Ah, but not of Christians! I have told you, Leader.
Once a year they kidnap some Jew, and give him a full
sample of all that this Jesus had to undergo, to the final

OF ADOLF HITLER

death on the cross. One year I could have seen it; but it
was a Jewish girl, and . . . well, I did not go."

"If he was a Jew," said Goebbels fiercely, "he deserved
all he received. Jesus, and these others too. It is a splendid
precedent to do this to all Jews, no?"

But the Leader had to hurry back to the opera, and so
this discussion went no further. The next morning, word
came to us that Rintelen had tried to commit suicide at
midnight the night before, shooting at his own heart; but
that he lived, with stitches taken in it. The Leader passed
the dispatch to me to read. "When I do it, I will not miss
so," he said soberly.

"Not you, Herr Hitler! What would the Party — what
would Germany do without you?"

"Well enough," he said dispiritedly. I could see that the
Austrian matter was at last weighing on his mind. "Every-
thing must end, sooner or later."

There was some good news out of Austria in the days
that followed. When Holzweber and Planetta were hanged
for their part in the putsch, they died with "Heil Hitler!"
on their lips as their last words, like true Nordics. And
meanwhile, in his home in East Prussia, the President sank
lower and lower. The Party propaganda department re-
peated again and again that the latest and greatest Nazi
convert was giving his life for Germany; had he not sent
telegrams to Hitler and Goring, congratulating them on
the magnificent achievement of the Blood Purge?

On August and, the senile old Field Marshal breathed his
last. The morning papers carried this news to Germany,
and more glorious news — that again the Leader had solved
a vexing problem of state with utter brilliance, always
doing the common-sense thing, so hidden from other

ii6 THE STRANGE DEATH

minds. Who hereafter would be President, and who Chan-
cellor? Why, he would be both, naturally! And that very
morning, every Reichswehr officer and soldier throughout
all Germany took the solemn oath:

I swear by God this sacred oath, that I will render uncon-
ditional obedience to the Leader of the German Reich and people,
Adolf Hitler, the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces; and
that I will, as a brave soldier, at all times be ready to stake my
life for this oath.

Magnificant words! The Party press told how sick officers
had rushed from their sickbeds to take the oath and pledge
allegiance to the Leader; thus denying the earlier story
that many had taken sick leave to avoid taking it. All
unable to take it on the 2nd did it on the next day.

"Otherwise," von Blomberg explained to me with a
wink, "we have enough unexplained suicidies to make the
Blood Purge look like an Alpine skiing trip."

The German people ratified this action of the Leader's
by a vote announced as 88% in favor of it. No doubt the
tired polls officers were too wearied to count the last 12%
of the vote; it is inconceivable that any true German
would not have voted for him; and who else would be
allowed to vote? In the ideal government, which we in
Germany are approximating more and more nearly, all
votes will be unanimous, and hence need only be cast by
the Leader himself. It is socially unhealthy to let it be
known that there is even one dissentient in a properly
organized state.

And then came the immortal ratification of the cleansed
and rejuvenated Germany, at the annual Party Day at
Niirnberg. The vast columned reviewing-stand of the

OF ADOLF HITLER

217

Luit-pold Arena faced the armed might of Germany, a
vista so vast that I, seated on the tribune just behind the
Leader, could hardly see the impressive Party standards
that ringed the whole horizon. After the roll of the heroic
dead were called, two by two, with fanfares of trumpets
wafting the immortal souls upward into the German
heaven, the Leader himself spoke, with winged words no
man has ever bettered: "Such achievements as I have made
have been made by Germany, with me as her spokesman.
Such mistakes as history may record against me I myself
assume full responsibility for. Perfection is not even true
of the Leader. But I can look the whole world of men in
the face — the heroic past, the magnificent present, the yet
unrevealed future of German glory — and say that I have
never done one deed or indeed held one thought that was
not for the benefit of the whole German people. Be it
written to my credit or discredit, I have lived my life with
but one motive: a greater Germany! And I have achieved
it. Heil Hitler!"

Goring was so excited at this peroration that he voided
wind like a thunderclap. This habit and belching have
grown constantly on him. When once some finicky Junker
objected that his manners were coarse for a general, the
Leader shut him up swiftly: "When I find a man who
belches louder, he can have Goring's place." It is no won-
der that Germany loves him, as the world will one day
come to love him. So, at least, I thought, with his tones
ringing then in my ears. Today. . . .

Well, we returned to Berlin the next day, jubilant at
one more year ended, with no open outbreak seething up
from the discontent of starved and suffering millions. We
were to dine at the Kaiserhof Hotel that night, the whole

218

THE STRANGE DEATH

cabinet, as well as the inner group of the Nazi rulers.
Naturally, I was along as a bodyguard, placed at a table a
little higher than the one occupied by the Leader and his
glittering cohorts. Erik von Arnheim had long ago told
me that on such occasions there was always a flask of
brandy in his greatcoat, and cigars and cigarettes, if ever
I happened to stroll out to the men's room. This night I
had taken advantage of his friendliness more than once;
and, as the Leader rose to speak, I decided to slip up to the
coatroom, which was on a balcony with a full view of the
tables, and enjoy a cigar at a time when it could not possi-
bly bring offense to the Leader. His words would seem
more golden, through the swirling gray haze of a Corona
Corona, after a sip of brandy. It was a pity there was no
place I could retire to with the coatroom girl for a brief
session, alas!

I secured the cigar and stepped out on the balcony, half
hidden behind a huge trellis of smilax forming a gigantic
swastika. I lit the cigar and stared down, heart at ease, at
these representatives of a triumphant Germany in a con-
tented world. The Chairman came near the end of his re-
marks introducing the Leader.

Suddenly I knew that a man stood beside me, closer to
the wall, more hidden than I by the massed smilax. I
turned toward him, when a pistol was shoved rudely
against my ribs. "Keep looking down at the tables, and
smiling," said the voice I had heard twice before. "And,
no outcry, or it will be your last."

I stiffened more erect. "But you will be apprehended
too, traitor to the Fatherland!"

"So you say. My escape is provided for. No one who
opposes that Austrian swine is a traitor to Germany, re-

OF ADOLF HITLER

219

member. I have wanted these few words with you, Little
Adolf, for some time. Tonight is the great night, when it
is almost too late for talk."

"For what!" I said, voice aghast.

"You will see. Tonight," his voice -was low but knife-
like for clearness, "Adolf Hitler will die, — in five minutes,
now. If you make the outcry, yes, it might happen sooner.
And you will die at that moment, by a shot; and neither
of us wants that. You prefer to live, is it not so?"

I was quite convinced that this was mere idle talk. The
thought of the Leader's death could not be entertained.
But it was my duty to try to find out all I could from this
mysterious traitor, still in his great cloak swirled about
him, for all that I knew that he wore the uniform of a
captain in the Reichswehr beneath it. And the pistol
pushed into my ribs was held in his left hand! "But talk,"
I said. "What is it that you wish with me?"

"When Hitler is shot, tonight," he said slowly, "word
of it will never reach Germany, or the world outside. How
could it? The dining room is sealed to all but to those high
in the Party and their trusted guards. There will be the
swift conference, and the matter will be hushed up — until
it is tactful to announce such as they wish to announce.
Did not this Hitler name only seventy-seven killed in the
Blood Purge, instead of the nine hundred and more that
lost their lives then?"

"The other deaths were mere coincidences," I said
firmly. "That is Party tactics. Besides, the Leader thinks
" there were only seventy-seven."

"Enough of that; time grows small," he said swiftly.
"When he is shot — and you will stand on this high moun-
tain, as the Jesus you despise stood there beside the devil

220

THE STRANGE DEATH

and watched the glories of the world unrolled beneath
him — you will walk down these steps, so? and say quietly,
'Gentlemen, here am I, Adolf Hitler, at your service.' —
Your wig off, your nose as should be! So?"
"But — then!" I objected.

"Let them decide," in slow triumphant certainty. "Look
— there to your left — where those two men stand behind
the three waiters — you see the gun lifted that will end
this Hitler forever?"

It was like a pantomime show, and I had too much com-
mon sense to believe that it could be real. It might be some
joke planned by some of the more ribald members of the
Party; it might even be Party tactics, such as had been dis-
cussed before the Reichstag Building was burned. I felt a
natural curiosity to ascertain which it was; but the part of
wisdom, with this pistol boring into my ribs, was to curb
my curiosity. Sooner or later one always finds out such
things, I have observed.

The man with the pistol laid its barrel quietly on the
shoulder of one of the waiters, who was in the pantomime
too, and aimed it at the Leader, as he rose with his great-
hearted smile to begin his speech.

It was at this moment that one of the waiters, cursed
with a cold, coughed. And, by ill luck, at that moment a
Blackshirt guard looked over to where the cough came
from, and saw the pistol aimed at the Leader.

"Watch out!" he shouted, hurling himself across the
space toward the man with the pistol.

At that moment, things happened too fast for me to
observe them with accurate regard to sequence. I saw the
gun blaze, without sound. But out of the corner of my eye
I saw a huge Blackshirt guard behind the Leader hurl him

OF ADOLF HITLER

221

down into his chair — indeed, his rump scraped off its edge,
and he sat ingloriously on the floor. At that moment, the
huge guard too screamed, and lifted up his hand, writhing
it; blood splattered all over the tablecloth. I could see, so
close I stood, that a finger had been shot off. And already
the man who had shot lay on the floor, knocked uncon-
scious from a blow with the butt of a revolver.

As if by magic, all was quiet again. The Leader was on
his feet, as they led away the moaning Blackshirt, a napkin
wrapped around his bleeding hand. "Quiet, my friends,"
he said, with his great-hearted smile. "A bulb has blown.
It is nothing. We were all startled, for the moment. It is
forgotten. My friends," he leaned forward, "the future of
Germany. . . ."

The voice beside me spoke, with melancholy music.
"But not forever a miss," he said. "Good night, Little
Adolf. You will see me again soon. Make no outcry. . .
The pistol bored once again into my ribs, and he was gone.
I still do not know how it was managed.

I finished my cigar and returned to the table.

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THE STRANGE DEATH

CHAPTER XVI

THE MOTHERS OF THE RACE

ON JANUARY 13, 1935, the Saar territory voted
overwhelmingly, in its plebiscite, held under anti-
German auspices, to return to the Reich. This was but nat-
ural, since the superiority of German culture is increas-
ingly becoming known to all the world. But the month
was far more important to me for a more personal reason.
On the 28th, my adored Ulrica gave birth to a son.
- It was always an event when any of the inner council
did anything conducing to Germany's firm stand for a
richer and ampler married life; and in this instance the
Leader congratulated the proud father before the whole
cabinet, on his addition of a little Reichsminister to the
Nazi Party. He himself stood godfather to the child,
which by Ulrica's cleverness was named after him. I felt
rather proud that the felicitations were really intended for
me; and was only sorry that the Leader was of such a
nature that he would not have enjoyed having this made
clear to him by me.

In his Mother's Day Speech, which occurred not so long
afterward, the Leader paid especial tribute to the Reichs-
minister's wife as a type of the highest in German woman-
hood. "Here we have a young and beautiful woman, a
loyal Party member since the start, who was selected for

OF ADOLF HITLER

"3

her beauty and her exquisite voice to render the immortal
music of Germany before the discriminating musical ap-
preciation of the sons of the Fatherland. But at the proper
time, she laid aside this lessor glory for the far higher and
nobler calling of wife — wife of one high in the councils
of the Party. And now a far higher accolade has been
laid upon her — that of the mother of the future! For out
of wifehood comes love, and out of love comes the glory
of motherhood. If we men must face death in defense of
the Party and the Fatherland and the Nordic ideals to
which Germany is consecrated, surely no less do the Ger-
man mothers go down into the valley of the shadow, to
bring back a rosebud boy who will himself grow into a
mighty Siegfried of valor, inheriting all of his father's
stanch party loyalty, personal bravery, and statesmanlike
acumen.

"Ulrica von Arnheim, you have done well! May all the
girls of Germany choose as nobly as you, and follow in
your footsteps, and achieve as fruitfully! Heil Hitler!"

In the midst of the wild applause of the general re-
sponse, the darling — I was seated between her and her
infinitely flattered husband — blushed prettily, and smiled
at her husband. "It's nice to have a little Adolf of my
own, instead of this lout who does not agree with me
nearly often enough on party tactics."

"Lout, she calls you," smiled her husband. "She should
be spanked, for that."

But the Leader had soared ahead. "Here we have a sam-
ple of what marriage at its best can be; not the hideous
disgrace that it has become in the democracies, and was
for so long in the Republic under the Marxists. It should
be consecrated as an institution to raise up soldiers and

224

THE STRANGE DEATH

mothers of soldiers in the highest Nazi tradition, instead of
being a cloak for private lusts and perversities, whose pro-
duce can only be monstrous degenerate beings, half man
and half monkey! It is the custom of the age in which we
live, except in Nazi Germany, to permit any corrupt mon-
grel or degenerate to reproduce himself upon a lovely girl
of blonde, Nordic stock, and thus bring unspeakable suf-
fering on his fellow countrymen and the monsters engen-
dered of his lust. In Germany, we have ended that. Let the
surgeon's knife render the degenerates, of either sex,
sterile forever! So we have decreed, and so we are magnifi-
cently achieving! And this should be a warning to inferior
races, of their nature degenerate!"

He pushed through the hurricane of handclappings.
"Quite as sinful is it for the weakling, the invalid, to bear
children who may inherit this weakness, this invalidism.
Most wicked of all is it to me to see on sale in any drug-
store, and even hawked about by street peddlers, iniquitous
devices which prevent the birth of offspring even where
the parents are healthy in the highest Nordic sense, and en-
tirely fitted to bear children worthy of the Fatherland.
Let me bring this home to you: if your parents had used
birth control, where would you be! If my mother had sunk
so low as to commit this sin, I myself would not be here
before you! For that only do I respect the evil Roman
Catholic Church, that creature of internationalism, that it
sets its face sternly against any limitation of offspring;
even though its reason for this is superstitious, the fear of
destroying an immortal soul. That far they are right, that
this is sinful among healthy parents; but they are eternally
wrong, when they apply the same standard to degenerates!
It is the duty of such to abstain from anything that may

OF ADOLF HITLER

225

perpetuate their degeneracy; and it is society's duty to
protect itself against suck monstrous offspring. Out of
these — I am sure science will one day corroborate me — the
inferior races of mankind have sprung!"

He stilled the torrent of applause, an exalted passion
lighting his face. "For the weakling, the invalid, there is
always the adoption of some poor, strange infant of healthy
parents, who can be brought up with full love and devo-
tion to become a worthy soldier of the Reich, or the mother
of German soldiers. And the goal we aim for is not Utop-
ian, but very near and very real. It is the application of
Nordic science to human offspring! Why should we make
such vast strides in the breeding of poultry, swine, cattle,
even dogs and cats, and ignore the human race, who can
with even more profit be bred quite as scientifically and
profitably? We Nazis intend to uplift the breeding of
human babies until it is done quite as efficiently and
amelioratively as the breeding of prize-winnning dogs
and cats, swine and horses! The sires must be registered,
and their pedigrees fully known; the dams must be
guarded from contamination by mongrel sires — and no
cloak of marriage can hallow such a foul and unnatural
union! They must receive service at the proper time, under
the supervision of qualified Nazi officials, which will in-
sure a continual race improvement of our glorious Nordic
stock!"

Again he hushed the clamor of enraptured applause.
"The full value of romantic love, I grant, must never be
lost sight of. But this is an extremely overrated matter.
Did you ever hear of the romantic love of a well-bred
Siamese female cat for a mongrel alley Tom, or of a pedi-
greed police bitch for some unpedigreed vagrant dog?

zz6

THE STRANGE DEATH

Even as unthinkable is any thought of romance between
a Nordic girl and a mongrel mucker. Romance will bud
from a scrutiny of pedigrees; and the Germany of the
future will be peopled by a race whose parents have been
selected by blood tests, chemical analyses, and a rigorous
use of the most qualified sires to serve all dams worthy of
perpetuating the stock. So it will be!"

With his infinite good humor, he quieted the demonstra-
tion. His eyes flamed more than ever. "One other blessing
we will bestow on our German girls. Naturally, being fe-
male, they are not of themselves qualified to be German
citizens. That is reserved for the men; by the old German
law, the sword is the suffrage. But the German girl who
marries will cease to be thereafter merely a State subject,
but will automatically by her marriage become a full citi-
zen! Naturally, we will extend this privilege also to Ger-
man females engaged in business, since in that way too
they contribute to the welfare of the Reich. My friends, I
give you the German mother! Heil Hitler!"

This was the Leader's epochal Mother's Day Speech. At
the cabinet dinner afterwards, Goebbels praised it without
restraint; and then looked at the Leader with a sly twinkle.
"But you did not mention adultery, or mistresses. You
seemed to assume that all babies are made in lawful wed-
lock."

"Adultery is unnecessary," said the Leader firmly. "Cer-
tainly one wife would be at least enough."

Goring chuckled. "I'll marry me another wife in April,
with the Leader as best man. And, by God, on that day we
will have those two Communists, Epstein and Ziegler, re-
sponsible for Horst Vessel's death, executed — the old Ger-
man fertility rite of a blood sacrifice."

OF ADOLF HITLER

"Frau Sonneman?"

"Yes, Emmy," gruffly. "We've hit it off together. We
will get married."

Von Arnheim smiled a bit cattily. "Whether you think
adultery is necessary or not, Herr Reichskanzler, it's uni-
versal. If there are any Party leaders who don't have a mis-
tress, or more than one, I've never heard of them. The
General had to put Rosenberg's mistress in jail, for sub-
versive remarks. Streicher and his doctor's wife are known
to everyone. Even such a little swine as Ludecke went
about boasting of this affair and that. If such is human
nature, what are you going to do about it?"

They all watched the Leader covertly. He turned a little
paler. "Adultery is entirely unnecessary," he said. "If
human nature interferes, we will change it."

"Take my case," said von Arnheim, mellowed by the
wine. "Ulrica has just borne her little Adolf. A woman is
sensitive, after a thing like that; the very thought of her
husband is repulsive to her, for a time. And what is a man
to do?"

I smiled to myself at this; for two nights before, when
he had had to go to Vienna, she and I had rehearsed our
first night together, with mutual pleasure. It was I who
suggested that she continue so sensitive against her hus-
band; and she swore to do it, to prove her so deep love to
me. If ever another man but myself touched her, she said,
she would blow out her brains. I have observed that
women are most fascinating in such moments of extreme
love. I let her kiss my hand to seal the pledge. And so I
was interested in all that von Arnheim said.

But the Leader shook his head. "Let the man wait until
it is time to serve. That is enough."

228

THE STRANGE DEATH

This was the busiest of all times with us, for all that
the activity was preparatory, not yet cresting into actions
to shake the peace of the world. I have observed that it is
in the times of apparent inactivity that the most progress
is made. For each day has its twenty-four hours, and there
is no inactivity in the waking hours for minds as alert and
loyal to the Party and the Reich as those at the head of the
Party. One by one the very planks of the platform that
poor dead Captain Roehm had struggled so for were being
shaped and planned as achievements, unless they were
clearly inapplicable to conditions.

It was in the August following that the Leader suddenly
disappeared from the Chancellery, and I was told that ho
was at the hospital undergoing a minor operation. The
Leader is not like Stalin, who when he needs an operation
has it performed simultaneously on himself and all nine
of his doubles, for safety as well as concealment of his
actual health; the Leader faced his crisis alone. I would
have had to have been told anyhow, for four times during
the interval I had to be Adolf Hitler on parade, and on
one of these occasions had to broadcast to the world his
ideas on Jews and Catholics. I only regretted that there
were not new subjects that I could talk on; what he
thought about these subjects I could have repeated in my
sleep, so familiar it had become.

"It's nothing," Goebbels told me, his face drawn and
haggard from worry. "It's absolutely not cancer. I know
his mother died from it; but the Leader inherited none of
it. It was merely a polyp on his vocal cords. The gassing
in the World War, the incredible speech-making he has
made to carry the Party to where it is — these have finally
exacted their toll."

OF ADOLF HITLER 229

"It is his oratory, is it not, Herr Minister," I asked the
repulsive-looking cripple, "that has given him his tre-
mendous power? With Mussolini, it is writing; with Stalin,
routine work as party secretary; but, with the Leader, it is
the golden magic of his voice — is it not so?"

"But naturally," he said proudly. "There has been no
such eloquence like it in the history of mankind."

At the Niirnberg Party Day that came a month later,
the Leader saddened the hearts of all the Party members
by speaking of the hour when he would die. "That hour
will come for me, too, and I can never know when it will
be. But I know that the Party will continue and flourish
and rule and lead Germany to her destiny. I commit to the
magnificent German army the power of the Party and
the Reich, confident that it will never falter in its sacred
duty." It was clear that the idea of death hovered over
him; and there was more and more talk of cancer. But I
had Goebbels' word for it, and that was enough.

All of these months, so quiet above, the history of to-
morrow was being planned and matured. I can never for-
get the talk the Leader had with me on March 3rd of the
next spring. "Well, Little Adolf, on Saturday my Reichs-
wehr marches into the Rhinelands."

"But what a coup! The world suspects nothing!"

He was off, marching up and down the long Chancellery
study, as if he were addressing the Recording Angel. "Up
to that hour, cringing beneath the iniquitous treaties of
Versailles and Locarno, we were forbidden to exercise our
God-given right of sovereignty over our own territory
. . . as if German administration of this ancient and in-
tegral part of the Fatherland must wait on the rubber-
stamp O.K. of Paris and London. We had to stand by and

2 3 o THE STRANGE DEATH

see France illegally fill these lands with mongrel African
soldiers, and white French officers stand by and applaud
while they violated our Nordic mothers and sisters.

"That is all over! By this one move I will notify the
world that Germany is sovereign still, and will take orders
hereafter from no power, living or dead! Heil Hitler!"

Utterly inspired, I gave the response, the salute. And on
Saturday we marched in. What a bombshell in the squab-
bling camps of the impotent European diplomats! France
wanted to march. . . . But what was France? The Leader
had a minor throat attack, and I had to say it for him to
the Reich over the air. "France is a democracy, that spawn
of Jewish creation and eternal structural weakness. France
is the eternal inveterate enemy of the Fatherland, which we
will annihilate before our destiny can be made secure! We
will find it necessary to turn France into a German man-
date, to permit room for our destined expansion into a
nation of two hundred and fifty million dominant Nordics;
and so France has only one course open before it, to bow
to the Juggernaut of our decision. Belgium shivers, we are
told; but what is Belgium? A mere truck-garden at our
backdoor, which will sooner or later be used by us for no
more. England has done nothing but hem and haw, at
where it holds the world's Olympic championship. Eng-
land is no longer impressive.

"Fellow Germans, we are in the Rhineland! We have
militarized it. Italy too had guaranteed its demilitarization;
but Italy now has an aggressive government, utterly op-
posed to the poisonous Jewish concept of democracy.
Italy, I give you my word for it, will hold hands off — and
I expect from my great friend II Duce his personal con-
gratulations on my manly step!

OF ADOLF HITLER 231

"And why are we justified in this historic step? Because
the Franco-Soviet pact of mutual aid, even now being
ratified in effeminate Paris, itself violated the Treaty of
Locarno, and thereby frees us to move forward to our
destiny. We have been summoned to a conference at Lon-
don to settle the matter. We will go; but it has been
settled by our actions! Heil Hitler!"

He congratulated me highly on the speech, and said that
I had indeed gone beyond his planned utterances in several
particulars, and in each case an improvement. He sent his
ambassador-at-large, young Joachim von Ribbentrop, to
London, and of course the Nazi dominated the conference.
For we knew what we wanted, and had taken it; the rest
could only pass resolutions of condolence to themselves.
The Leader shrewdly had Ribbentrop offer the Leader's
plan to the conference, asking much of what we really
wanted; so that the infantile democratic delegates forgot
what the conference had been summoned for, and discussed
the Leader's proposal that France, indeed, hold a plebiscite
on his plan!

But it was the Leader himself, one week later, who lifted
the Nordic fist against the Judaized Soviet power. "There
can be no peace on earth until all nations have the same
law and the same legal system. It is because of this that I
know that National Socialism will one day cover the entire
world. This is no idle dream, but an object I pledge you we
will achieve!"

He was jubilant, when we entered the car together after
this magnificent Niirnberg speech, for the return trip.
"Let them read that ten years from now . . . twenty
years from now . . . and then begin to list their major
prophets!"

2 3 2 THE STRANGE DEATH

"It is the Bible of the future," I said fervently. For so,
in those days, I thought.

I remember we stopped for dinner at a charming little
inn near Jena, all informal and delightful. After an hour
of eating and relaxation, it was time to commence the rest
of the trip. Wisely the party in our car repaired to the
men's room, the Leader, myself, and the three most trusted
bodyguards. I remember Julius Sehreck and I went in
first, and then the Leader, and his Adjutant and Schaub
close behind him. It was Schaub and I who came out first,
and walking alone behind us Julius Sehreck, the trusted
chauffeur, who was Hitler himself, except for his blacker
eyes and hair. I, of course, had on my wig; or I would not
be writing these pages.

As the Leader himself was pushing open the swinging
door, three men sprang out from the center of a clump of
privet. It was so sudden, for once we were entirely unpre-
pared.

A brutal hand hit me under the jaw, while a foot
tripped me and sent me sprawling on the ground. Schaub
told me later he fell the same way. I know now that there
was a border of bricks slanted half out of the ground, and
I rolled over and bumped the back of my head against one
of these, so that it was stars I saw, more than the Milky
Way. Utterly indignant, I rolled to my feet, and had out
my revolver.

There was no need for it. The Blackshirt guards had fal-
len upon the three men, and they were methodically
beating in their skulls with the butts of their sjamboks,
as if they were beating carpets.

The Leader was standing there alone, with Bruckner a

OF ADOLF HITLER 233

step behind him. He was looking down at a man's body on
the ground. It was poor Schreck.
"Dead," the Leader said.

I looked at what had been done to his head, and I looked
away. My stomach is not strong.

But he was still alive. Concussion of the brain, yes, and a
dreadful inflammation that kept him hovering between
life and death for three weeks, and then life did not win.

At least, we buried him with the highest Nazi honors at
a military funeral. It is so a soldier of the Fatherland
should go to his next detail.

There came a note for me, unsigned:

This was not our doing. But the hour nears.

W.

We receive many such crank letters. I destroyed it. But
I got a list of officers of the Reichswehr, and studied those
whose first names or last names began with W.

234 THE STRANGE DEATH

CHAPTER XVn

THE GERMAN NARCISSUS

I AM baffled when it comes to trying to tell briefly the
happenings of the six months ending with the spring
of 1938: so much, and so varied. I might say briefly that
the Leader formed the Fascintern, gave England the jitters
by our plain talking, reorganized the Reichswehr staff with
himself at the head, established to me that Jesus never
existed, and consummated the Anschluss with Austria. But
that is as bad as writing in shorthand: nothing clear, noth-
ing ordered. Let me try at least to show how some of these
epochal events impressed me, who hovered as close behind
him ever as a shadow behind its object, and time and again
became the object, to the rest of the world — at conflicts of
engagements, at minor illnesses, at especial danger of
assassination.

Months when nothing seemed to happen, and everything
was being prepared. . . . The moment of birth is nothing,
without the nine slow developing months of pregnancy
that precede it. 1938, our year of glittering action, de-
veloped in the swelling womb of placid-faced 1937.
Though there were some moments that were not too
placid. . . .

The Fascintern came first. At least I know a little about
that, for I had to make the Leader's broadcast announcing

OF ADOLF HITLER

235

it to the world — though he and Erik von Arnheim labored
hard to make me understand, so complicated was our
foreign policy growing — at least, to me. But my audience
never knew it! "My fellow countrymen, a year ago Ger-
many stood alone and self-sufficient. Northeast lay the
huge Communist Soviet menace; westward lay the impo-
tent democracies, France and England. To our south lay a
great but envious land, the land that prevented the An-
schluss with Austria; to our far east lay Japan, powerful,
Mongolian, but Nordic in all its tendencies. That was the
map then.

"The map today is different. "We have begun the build-
ing of the Nazi world, since Italy to the south and Japan
to the east are riveted to us, as the heart of such an irresisti-
ble world-power. Our alliance with Japan came first; so
the Communist finds us with claws upraised against his
face, while our ally Japan claws into his rear. The Rome-
Berlin axis became more than a name, in gratitude for
recognizing Franco in Spain together, and marching into
that Communist-plagued land together. If we had not done
this, Spain would be one of the democracies, having the
Communist government they voted for. This is impossible
to contemplate, in a world devoted to Nazi ideals.

"And now, the visit of II Duce to Munich has made the
Fascintern the major world power. German loyalty and
thoroughness were never better displayed than on that
visit: not a train went unsearched, not a motorcar was
allowed to pass; cellars and attics were sealed under guard,
and during his procession it was strictly verboten to open
any front window. It is from this visit I now may an-
nounce to you that the Axis has become a triangle — Ger-
many, Italy, Japan, a unit against the world power of

2i 6 THE STRANGE DEATH

Jewish Communism. And we are the center of the triangle,
and to us each flows, as to a way state!

"You will not be bored, when I stand before you and an-
nounce that the last state in Europe has bowed entirely and
accepted Nazi government; welcome, then, this news that
we have isolated the Communist to the northeast and the
democracies to the west, and our plans mature for more!"

Herr Hitler himself congratulated me on this delivery,
which met with the same tumult of applause as if he him-
self had spoken it. "Of course," he continued thought-
fully, "one sentence can not contain everything. We left
out the United States of America — a country Nazi enough
in the Southern States, where Nordic race superiority is the
beginning of their creed — and they are, naturally, ripe for
assimilation with us at any time; but with its northern
cities populated almost entirely by Jews. The democracies
stayed silent when I announced that Germany disclaimed
all guilt for the World War; but what did you do, Goeb-
bels, about that Ghetto Jew who intrigued to become
Mayor of New York, and lacks the proper respect for us?"

Goebbels smiled wryly. "This La Guardia, you mean? I
doubt if he will ever face a public audience again, after
what I let the Party press say of him. We uncloaked him
thoroughly, Herr Reichskanzler: a Jewish boob ... a
filthy soul ... a man with bargain-counter brains . . .
a well-poisoner ... a procurer ... a dirty Talmud Jew.
More serious charges we will make against him later, if he
speaks again."

The Leader smiled approval at this magnificant use of
propaganda. We had long discovered that the only im-
portant thing was what we said; it would be believed any-
how, so what difference did it make how true it was? And

OF ADOLF HITLER 237

then, on the fourth anniversary of his elevation to the
Chancellorship, the Leader made his most delicious inter-
national joke: he announced to the world that the era of
surprises in our foreign affairs was over!

"But will they believe such bilge!" sneered Goring, with
an unfriendly look at Goebbels. "Why not just say, 'hands
up!' and go through their pockets!"

"Theft by propaganda, to strengthen us for theft by
warfare," smiled Goebbels frostily, his little vulture face
twitching. "First / secure their arms, then you torture and
destroy them, General."

"Our propaganda for ten years was broken heads."

"And soon, there will be no heads left to break, when
the Leader and you and I have finished!"

The Leader chuckled. "Send in that French journalist
who desires an interview. And, General, you can watch
his face while I pump him full of more of this bilge. You,
too, listen, Little Adolf," with an affectionately look at
me. "Now I turn on the tremolo, the sobs. . . ."

The journalist never got a chance to do more than
throw in an occasional question. He wrote it all down, too,
and the world had it the next morning. "War!" roared the
Leader. "It is unthinkable! It is repugnant to the German
soul. There is no unsettled matter in all European affairs
which can possibly justify another way like the last!" I
chuckled to myself at that brilliant reservation: the next
war would be different! "I am not quite mad — " Another
brilliant qualification, which German readers at least ac-
cepted. "A war would mark the final twilight of our races,
the cream of humanity, leaving Bolshevism and mongrel
Asia to overrun trampled Europe. Not for the Nazi gov-
ernment! For me, it is enough hereafter to give back to the

2 3 8 THE STRANGE DEATH

German his joy in the simple things of life, his simple pros-
perity. Would I turn aside from this to jeopardize all on
the throw with loaded dice that a new war would mean —
dice loaded with destruction for all of us?"

And so the democracies went to sleep, and we massed
for the attack. A petition was started, after this interview,
to give Herr Hitler the Nobel Peace Prize.

But they presumed too far; and this let us see the
Leader thunder as he had shone benignantly in that inter-
view. In November, 1937, England sent Lord Halifax to
Germany "to attend a hunting exposition" — so it was an-
nounced; but we knew, of course, it was a pilgrimage on
hands and knees, to beg of the Leader what was the Ger-
man will for the rest of the world. The Leader permitted
Halifax, Lord Privy * Seal, and now over the Foreign
Office, to speak the English prayer. Could there not still be
a continuance of the balance of power on the continent?

Ribbentrop interrupted him sharply. "You mean the
Procrustean bed that lessens or enlarges the continental
powers at England's will, to keep them all the same weight
for warfare; while England remains the heavyweight
champion, handling all challenges by manipulating the
scales and disqualifying all contenders? Not for Nazi Ger-
many, Lord Halifax!"

The Leader nodded. "Take this word back to your de-
mocracy. Germany informs England she insists upon no
assistance of any kind to Austria; autonomy for the Sude-
ten, with a cantonal system for the rest of Czechoslovakia,
and plebiscites; a League of Nations cleansed as we indi-
cate, and then we will join; English recognition of
Ethiopia as Italian, and of the Franco government in

* Privy — a backhouse; a jakes. Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.

OF ADOLF HITLER 239

Spain — and we guarantee to stop the Loyalist resistance in
Spain at once; and, in return for our promise to keep
silence for six years about colonies, English aid in regain-
ing them at the end of that time!"

"But this means Germany dominant in Europe — in the
world!" The backhouse ambassador turned pale.

Hitler nodded. "You comprehend. You may depart."

He left, with his tail between his legs.

Goring came belching in one day, snarling about the
heads of the Reichswehr. "Look, the Anschluss is planned,
no? And, of course, we have had to promise to Austria,
these years, we would guard their independence, and not
march a German army on Austrian soil. It is incredible,
Herr Hitler, but von Blomberg and the rest regard their
promise as sacred!"

After some discussion, the Leader dismissed him. "Leave
that to me," he said. "I have solved it already."

I watched with awe as he moved the pawns around. Old
Marshall von Blomberg, who dripped affection for the
Leader, was sixty; but he was slowly rising to some such
power as Captain Roehm had once had. Luckily for the
Leader's planning, he fell in love — for his first wife was
five years dead. He picked out a snappy baggage named
Erika Gruhn, just twenty-three, her father a carpenter,
her mother a skillful masseuse. If I had not had my Ulrica,
I should have cultivated the Marshal's household. Natu-
rally the Leader, and Goring too, were witness at this
marriage of aging Junkerdom and the aspiring proletarian.

And then von Fritsch, Chief of Staff under Blomberg,
was tipped off to go to the Leader and demand that Blom-
berg be eliminated, for violating the Reichswehr code of
marriage of officers. Naturally this Fritsch intended to in-

240

THE STRANGE DEATH

kerit the post himself. But the Leader cut the snarl with
one magnificent slice of his snickersee. "You are right,
General; von Blomberg must go. And perhaps, for the
good of the service, I accept your resignation at the same
time, no? From now on, I myself, in person, will directly
command all the armed forces of Germany."

So it was handled brilliantly. Thirteen other generals
resigned for "ill health" it was said — but the ill health was
prevented by their resigning. Goring at last was made a
Field Marshal, decorations, belches and all; and Ribbentrop,
definitely a Leftist, became Minister in charge of Foreign
Affairs.

And that was all until — No, I forget Jesus. One night
the Leader relaxed, with none but me present. "I have a
new coup coming, Little Adolf. You should know of it."

"The Anschluss?"

"A little later. It is at last to prove the non-historicity
of Jesus. Rosenberg has dug up a book by an American,
Ecce Dew, by William Benjamin Schmidt, which estab-
lishes that the Jewish Jesus was no deified man, but a
humanized god. Another American, named Holz, has
proved it beyond all argument."

"But they have lives of him — the gospels!"

"And lives of Wilhelm Meister and Don Quixote too,
no? The earliest of these lives was not known until 175
A.D. Let me give you the picture. The Jews, ever squab-
bling and split into sects, form a new sect, with Jews
named Peter, James and John at the head. They adopt a
new name for Jehovah — remember, when Egypt tyran-
nized over them, they changed from El to Jah or Jehovah;
now, when Rome tyrannized over them, it is from Jehovah
to Jehoshua or Jesus — 'the salvation of Jehovah' — that they

OF ADOLF HITLER 241

change. A secret conspiratorial sect, since it sought to over-
throw Rome, with a childish initiation — baptism, carrying
a cross, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension to a throne —
limited to Jews. The Jews would have none of it. A rene-
gade Jew named Paul — and did he despise the Jerusalem
leaders of this sect! — broadened the faith to include the
Gentiles, commencing the international conspiracy. The
Jerusalem movement never joined with him, and died
soon. Now all of these men — Peter, James, John, Paul,
knew there had been no man Jesus; their writings show
this, mentioning no word of his, and no act except the silly
initiation ceremony. Well, even this religion hits the to-
boggan; and so, disregarding Paul's repeated warning, one
of his followers, Mark, embroiders a Wilbelm Meister about
the life of a man Jesus, based upon Paul's life, Old Testa-
ment miracles, and Biblical and Talmud sayings — and this,
as embroidered by Matthew and Luke, and fifty years later
by a pupil of Philo named John, is the New Testament!
The genealogies are put in to convert the Jews, and trace
Jesus through Joseph, if you please — Mary and the Holy
Ghost left out entirely! The virgin birth is a typical Jewish
theft from Greek and other sources, and went to convert
the uncircumcised. And so, we have a synthetic Jewish
man-god at last — no more historical than Mickey Mouse!"
"But will people believe this?"

He shrugged. "That may be difficult, since it is true, and
propaganda is easier to put across than truth. But we will
see. — Anschluss, you mentioned." He smiled. "Yes. Soon.
You know the plan we had made, that those damned Aus-
trians bungled? A fake assassination, in an attack on our
embassy in Vienna, aimed at General Muff or even von
Papen, the ambassador. Now that they've arrested the

242

THE STRANGE DEATH

leaders, I've adopted von Arnheim's plan — to summon
Schussnigg to Der Berghof , and make him surrender Aus-
tria!"

"Herr Hitler, only you could have designed such a bril-
liant plan!"

He smiled serenely. And so it was that on February 12th
we repaired to the Leader's mountain chalet on the Ober-
salzburg, bought as Haus Wachenfeld and now impres-
sively rebuilt. And Schussnigg came wearily, realizing
Italy would not help him, and unsure of aid from the de-
mocracies, to try to stand alone in the way of the German
tide. Cnut once tried to order the ocean to stop.

It was I who rode down to the border as the Leader, and
curtly ordered the Austrian to dismiss his guards and let
Austrian Nazi exiles, who hated him, be his guard there-
after. I entered the chalet, resumed my wig and the wax
in my nostrils, and became mere Ludwig Zeit, a bodyguard,
for the eleven hours of the Leader's magnificent eloquence
that followed. Schussnigg begged, pleaded, wept: the
Leader was adamant, sanadin. "I am Germany speaking;
you have only to hear, and obey! You will name Seyss-In-
quart over Interior and Public Security — for we must
have control of the police. . . . You will receive other
orders, and perform them. Remember, I am the Leader of
every German throughout the whole world!"

He left, but he left with a sulky, ungracious look. How
much better, I have observed, is cooperation than sullen-
ness!

"Watch that louse," von Arnheim warned the Leader
earnestly. "I have come to know these Austrians. Maybe
it is the Italian that is quick with the stiletto; watch the
Austrian always for some dirty treachery."

OF ADOLF HITLER 243

"But what?" asked Goebbels, frowning. "They'd sooner
line up with the devil than with Stalin. The democracies
won't move a step. We have Italy tied in the bag of the
Fascintern. What's left?"

For once, it occurred to none of us. On March 9th, we
found out the one weapon left to him — the one thing we
had ignored completely; the Austrian people! He an-
nounced a plebiscite, to be held on the 13 th, to determine
whether or not the Austrians desired the Anschluss and
promotion into German citizenship.

Von Arnheim was in Rome that night, puttying a few
cracks in the Fascintern; and naturally I doubled for him
in his home, reveling in the caresses of the increasingly in-
fatuated Ulrica. Two days later, at the Chancellery, Erik
told us of Mussolini's receiving word of this planned plebi-
scite. II Duce, he said, ripped out an incredible, vulgar
oath. "Fools do not stop at Modane," he snorted. "It will
explore like a bomb in his hand."

"That is not the half of it," said the Leader irritably.
"Not the beginning of it. Now what I plan. . . ." His
bitter anger was greater than I had ever seen it. At its
end, he told us what he intended to say that day over the
telephone to Seyss-Inquart. We listened, and approved.
So far, the Austrian Nazi had done well. He had instigated
disorder all over the land and given us every reason to in-
tervene. He was told to do better; to trot around to the
recreant Austrian Chancellor, who was seeking to betray
the sacred Anschluss, and order him to call off the plebis-
cite and resign at once, or we, in the name of German cul-
ture, would invade at once! This was just before 4 P. M.
"Give him two hours," said the Leader firmly. We sat tense
in the Chancellery, while Austria fought for its own Ger-

244 THE STRANGE DEATH

man soul as part of our world-ideal. Mercifully the Leader
granted an hour and a half more. There came back a plea
for more time, in God's name. At ten minutes to eight
that night, Schussnigg did as he was commanded.

I have wondered since what the other nations actually
felt, before our will became a fact. Halifax, the backhouse
ambassador, had already told us England would not move
to protect Austria; why then did the trousered old woman,
when he heard what we had done, weep out "Horrible,
horrible!" II Duce knew what must come. He had bound
himself to Hitler, and eunuchized himself as far as protect-
ing Austria was concerned. He saw the danger in the
planned plebiscite. Yet it was told us that, when he heard
of this great coup as a thing done, he heaved a bronze
head of Caesar, which he used as a paperweight, through
a framed picture of the Leader. Was it so he surrendered
his own Caesarship? I do not know. The only picture I can
get is this. The other nations sat around, like birds hypno-
tized by a cobra, and watched the huge hooded menace
swallow the first of them. Impotence, impotence, be-
fore our Nordic superiority. . . . This is the picture that
comes to me. . . .

And what a belly-aching coward Schussnigg was when
he broadcast his resignation! He did not admit the truth,
that the Austrian soul joyfully joined itself to Germany.
No, he claimed that his government had been forced to
surrender! Ach, but we had won, we had won! The
Reichswehr, with the Leader glittering before them, and I
in the car with him, marched into that Linz where Hitler
himself had attended Kealscbule so many years before; and
the people opened their hearts to welcome him. Jews scur-
ried past us, seeking to fly the land. "Hold them all!"

OF ADOLF HITLER 245

ordered the Leader. "We will handle them here." Vienna,
and his magnificent speech from the balcony of the Im-
perial Hotel — how many in the world knew that it was my
Hps that spoke the historic words, while he waited trem-
bling in the inner room, for word of a plot to shoot him as
he spoke? But my voice thundered out for him, "The Ger-
man Reich, as it stands today, will never again be broken
apart! We are one land forever, from Konigsburg and
Hamburg to Vienna!"

His own speech, from the ancient Hapsburg palace the
next day, was rather an anticlimax. He told of liquidating
the Austrian cabinet, as if it had been a mere trades union
or monastery we were liquidating. He called the re-entry
of his homeland into the Reich the most important act of
his life. I, if I had made the speech, would have called it
the most important event since God's creation of the first
German.

At least, I carried his dispatch to Ribbentrop, to send to
II Duce: telling of the coup, as something Hitler had
planned since the making of the Versailles Treaty; did the
step meet with II Duce's approval? The answer almost
gushed with affection: "My attitude is fixed by the amity
between our two countries, which is consecrated in the
Rome-Berlin Axis." We were informed that II Duce had
severe retching and vomited after sending this message.
But the Leader smiled like a cat licking its chops: "I will
never forget this, Little Adolf," he said to me. And then
he took the final step, and promoted Austria from being
merely an independent nonentity among world powers, to
the high rank of the eighteenth German State.

A delicious week followed. Von Arnheim, of course,
familiar as he was with the situation, had to spend the

2 4 * THE STRANGE DEATH

whole time almost in the rehabilitation of the land, harassed
so long by Slavophiles, Catholics, Jews and other anti-
Anschlussists. To Ulrica he wrote the details; and each
night she and I chuckled over the progress we were mak-
ing. Of course, we removed the misleading name Austria,
and substituted the old German title, Ostmark. "Before we
finish," he wrote her, "we will jail at least 100,000 anti-
Nazis.* We have put the Jew to his proper place cleaning
streets, toilets, and cesspools. I am sorry to say that only
7,000 committed suicide; they might have cooperated
more. You'll be amused to know that Baron Louis Roths-
child is under arrest, as a hostage for his inferior racemen.
And, my dear, Catholics, Protestants, capitalists, aristo-
crats, Social Democrats, everybody opposed to our regime
has been made safe in protective custody! You will read
Baron Neustaedter-Stiirmer, who spoiled the 1934 putsch,
and Fey, who aided us and then like a renegade entered
the Schussnigg cabinet, committed suicide. This much is
sure: they are all buried — and Fey's wife and son as well,
and his dog too. Here in Vienna we say the dog even com-
mitted suicide, ashamed of his opposition to the Anschluss.
It is all a holy victory!"

Ulrica let this letter drift neglected to the floor. "And so
he has won again," she said to me, with a little sigh.

"He always wins," I smiled. "Hitler and victory will be
synonyms, in all German dictionaries in the future."

"No man rides home in the end with Death trotting at
his stirrup," she said quietly. I had come to expect these
morbid moods of hers, for she had never entirely accepted
the necessity of the invaluable Blood Purge of June 30,
1934, in which her individual favorite among the leaders,

* By June, however, only 50,000 tad been reported as imprisoned.

OF ADOLF HITLER

*47

Captain Roehm, who stood for the unwise revolutionary
portions of the Party demands, had paid for his treason
with his life. I forgave her these morbid moments; she
had other moments I could not do without. Her voice con-
tinued sadly: "For a certain hour, yes. But the hour comes
when Death does the riding, and the tallest of us is glad
to walk quietly at his black stirrup, and across the thresh^-
hold through the curtain of eternal mist."

"The Leader is immortal," I boasted, in my so great
ignorance. "His name is deathless. He is Germany! He is
married to Germany, and bridegroom and bride alike will
live forever as man's highest achievements." And then I
clutched her tighter. "But you are my Frau Germany";
for so she had been officially named by the Leader, on the
Mother's Day after she bore her second son, which with
reason might well have been named as was the first. Let
the rest of the world name a Miss United States, a Made-
moiselle France, a Senorita Francist Spain, a Miss Yugo-
slavia: Germany regarded the unmarried girl merely as a
subject, and awarded its highest honor to a married woman
who was as well a mother.

"They talk about him in other lands," she giggled, eased
by my caress. "Herta just lent me a copy of Le Journal of
Paris already two years old, with that amusing article on
'Hitler's Secret Loves.' " Herta was Ulrica's sister, Frau
Konrad Fuchs now, who, too, had begun singing at the
Schwarz Anser. "What silly nonsense! I myself know
Margaret Slezak, and it may be there are some men she has
cared for — who cares — but surely the Leader has never
looked twice in her direction, or she in his! Yet she is
listed. And even more ridiculous is the story that Leni
Reifenstahl is even now his love. Only Paris could have in-

248 THE STRANGE DEATH

vented that story. In Paris, there is no story, unless they
can put two in bed together."

"Are we, then, turned French? Ach, no, sweetheart.
Love began in the German Garden of Eden, and it will last
as long as German man and German girl are left on earth."

"They talk about him in other lands." She looked more
indignant now. "One book from the United States calls
him "The German Narcissus.' A leading editorial writer
there speaks of him outright as 'a crack-brained onanist.'
True or not, these are not flattering."

"He is not crack-brained," I insisted hotly. "He has the
finest mind in Europe — in the world, indeed." And yet, I
had begun to wonder how much of his magnificent
thoughts really grew first in that mind. It is much, though,
to be wise enough to know the diamonds from the paste in
the wallets of others. "As for the other word. . . ." And
there I grew silent. And then I smiled. "He loves Blonda,
and Muck, and Wolf — all of them, bitches and dogs
alike."

"He can dominate them sufficiently, then. Narcissus" —
she spoke dreamily — "was a Nordic youth in Greece who
was adored by many nymphs, who sought him constantly
to share a pallet of leaves with them. But he was too vain,
too much in love with tending his own smooth body; a
Leader of the leaves and the flowers. He came to a wood-
land pool and knelt to drink. From the pool he himself
looked back at him, and it was such beauty as he had
never seen. He would not move ever thereafter from that
woodland pool; but there he pined away and died, and of
his body came the spring flower we name after him. The
German Narcissus. ..."

OF ADOLF HITLER

249

"The Leader has no time for woodland pools," I ob-
jected.

Ulrica smiled softly. "Onan was the son of Judah, one
of the twelve of the despised self -chosen of God; he was
the brother of Er, the husband of Tamar. When the Jew-
ish Jehovah slew Er for his wickedness, Judah bade bis son
Onan go in unto his brother's widow, as was the custom,
to give her seed, that the line of Er might not perish. But
Onan was vain, and would not. Instead, he spilled his seed
on the ground; and Jehovah slew him also, so that in the
end by playing the harlot, Tamar secured seed of Judah
himself. She is one of the five women named in the gene-
ology of Jesus in the Judaized New Testament; strange
that all five of them stepped outside the confines of mar-
riage, in greater or less degree. Tamar, who played the
harlot to her father-in-law; Rahab, the harlot of Jericho;
Ruth, who won a husband by sleeping in the threshing-
floor at his feet; Bath-Sheba, who glittered in her adultery
with David; and Mary, who surely was not legally wed to
the Holy Ghost. And this was Onan; and those who spill
their seed themselves are named after him. A crack-brained
onanist. . . ."

"He is not crack-brained," I insisted.

"Your onanist," she said reflectively, "is your prince of
the realms of fantasy, your lord of laziness and effortless
leisure. How easy to wed oneself! What wooing is needed,
what resistance conquered, what scruples overcome! None,
none. . . . Your onanist turns his back upon the world
of reality, and says, 'It is so'; and to him it has become so.
Your one Dick Whittington marries the Lord Mayor's
daughter; how many millions of young onanists have
fantasied marrying so above them, and have eaten of the

2 5 o THE STRANGE DEATH

banquet of their own fantasies and their own bodies, and
no other banquet! Life flings obstacles forever in the way
of lovers. Your onanist shirks the task of overcoming even
the first, and relaxes with dazed, sated eyes, f antasying his
victory won — while the one he desired passes on to those
worthier of wooing and winning her fresh young embrace.
Your onanist says, I long for the fresh sweet bodies of
the blonde Nordic maidens; then he relaxes, while mongrels
take and plough and seed and harvest in their unploughed
fields. Your onanist is a voyeur: content to play the peep-
ing-Tom on others, demanding that they amuse him so,
while he himself relaxes back into his effortless fantasies.
It is not good for the world when an onanist desires to
lord it over them."

"You cannot mean the Leader!" I said, aghast.

She shrugged. "I speak in general only. 'I am the voice
of all Germans everywhere; they all approve of me.' "

"But the plebiscites show it, every one of them!"

Her shrug was more contemptuous. "We two know how
the vote is manipulated. 'France is Germany's inveterate
enemy, and I shall annihilate it!' "

"But the Leader says he will!"

"When was any land ever annihilated, or its people?
Who living will ever see this done to France, by anyone?
Was Germany annihilated, when this word thundered
forth from Versailles in 19 19? But more, more, more. . . .
'We must destroy all who oppose our own aim!' 'The
whole world will one day summon the German people to
lead the world, supported by the forces of the whole
globe!' "The army must teach the boy that the nation is
unconquerable!' — when was there an unconquerable na-
tion? 'One Man shall decide for mankind!' — and who shall

OF ADOLF HITLER

251

say which man? 'The strong man is the strongest when
alone!' — for onanism only, Little Adolf! He could not even
feed or clothe or house himself, except rarely; strength is
in infinite cooperation. 'Germany is the sole creative race,
and has created all the world's culture; when it perishes,
all beauty on earth goes with it into its grave!' 'The
eternal privilege of Force and Strength' — and what is the
force, the strength, that Jesus out of Galilee, Buddha the
Enlightened, Socrates, Shakespeare, ach, even Marx and
Freud and Einstein have sought to use? 'I am God!' So
many have said. In the end, only they themselves agree.
'A majority can never be a substitute for the Man.' Let
the man try to stand against the majority, and what have
we but Golgotha, St. Helena, the Ides of March? Your
onanist is your prince of the realms of fantasy, the domain
of make-believe, your lord of laziness and effortless leisure.
Woe to the land, woe to the world, when his vaporings are
heeded too long!"

"Cassandra," I sneered. But I shivered as I sneered.

"We shall see," she said quietly. And then her face
melted into the love I was awaiting. "Find out, some day,
what happened to Cassandra in the temple, when Troy fell.
Come, pour me another drink, and amuse me. I am thirsty
. . . for more than wine."

THE STRANGE DEATH

CHAPTER XVm

THE MATTER OF HERTA FUCHS

IT was the second day after his return from Vienna that
Erik von Arnheim sent word for me to come to the
Foreign Office. He greeted me with eyes cordial enough;
but there was something remote and disturbing in them.
"Doing anything this evening, Zeit?"

"Nothing I cannot sidestep, no. What is it is up?"
"I wondered if you'd care to come to dinner with me,
at home. Ulrica's just phoned me." His eyes narrowed a
trifle at the outer slits. "It's about Herta. Her sister, you
know. The poor kid's in serious trouble, somehow. I
haven't heard any of the details. She suggested that I bring
you along — Ulrica did. Five-thirty, say?"

"But yes! And gratefully." The only thing I was not
grateful about was that he would probably want to stay
on for the evening and the night; and it would be too
tantalizing to see my adored one for a few hours only
and then have to return to the Chancellery to sleep alone.
The thing chiefly wrong with modern marriage, I have
observed, is husbands, and the fact that they sleep at home
so often. If I had just known about it in time, I could
have suggested a trip to Prague or Budapest for him to
the Leader, and the evening would then be far more
intime. But, after all, he had had to spend an entire week

OF ADOLF HITLER 2jj

in Vienna, and I must not be the pig. Before the end of
the week, I could arrange something. . . .

Before I joined Erik for the ride over to his apartment,
I recalled methodically all that I knew about this sister
of Ulrica's. I have observed that this is an invaluable
preparation for any interview. I had heard her sing once
at the cafe, and I had met her once at a dinner party at
Ulrica's, quite formal. She was not more than twenty-one
now, younger even than Ulrica had been when I first met
her four years before. Naturally she lacked the soft full-
blown glory of her sister's matured beauty; but the
younger sister gave promise of becoming even more daz-
zling. Unlike Ulrica, who had left the Schwarz Anser
when she had married, Herta's marriage had not ended
her career as prima donna there. She still used her maiden
name, Herta Diehm, in public. Her husband was, of course,
the celebrated Konrad Fuchs, the young lyric tenor, who
had appeared at Goring's opera house, that astonishing
rival set up to Goebbels' Staatsoper; and, in addition, he
was the most popular classical singer on the air. It might
be merely a young married couple's quarrel between two
strongly-passioned artists; but why, then, bring me into it?

I considered the matter from another angle. In spite of
this appearance at the rival opera house, I had been told
that both Herta and her husband stood high with the all-
powerful Reichsminister of Propaganda and Public En-
lightenment, the vulture-faced little dwarf who was Lord
High Everything Else of the German press, radio, theatre,
opera, cinema, and all musical, cultural, artistic and scien-
tific activities for the praising of the Nazis and the glory
of the Leader. There were certain troubles to which ac-
tresses and singers were addicted, which were more than

*54

THE STRANGE DEATH

regrettable from a standpoint of our wise censorship. What
sort of trouble could this be that had come upon Herta,
with her budlike beauty the toast of all the masculine
hearts in Germany? Ach, it was a dreadful pity if it
affected the morals, in a land with the highest public
morality among its artists of any land in the world!

Somehow Goebbels, the detestable little demon, hovered
over my mind and constantly entered it, as I thought of
the case. I knew that he would stop at nothing to keep
unsullied the reputation of each artist, that a shining
Nordic example might be set to the world. This was the
Leader's insistence; after all, the sole purpose of the Propa-
ganda department was to present Germany to Germans
and others as the Leader would have it presented. Each
artist must indeed outshine Caesar's wife for spotlessness;
and the faintest touch of the reputation of being Caesar's
harlot was enough to cause the offending man or woman
to be hurled into the limbo of outer darkness, as unfit
to represent Nordic culture. Of course, most obvious of
all had been such artists as were banned from stage and
screen and concert hall and the air because they were of
the detested Jewish race — a clear breach of morals. Such
as Gitta Alpar, the wife of the Nordic cinema star Gustav
Frohlich. She had been in wild demand in republican Ger-
many both in opera and the films, for all that she was
Hungarian born and the daughter of a rabbi! It was then
that Goebbels had uttered his famous dictum: Germany
expects every Nordic to divorce his Jewess. And so art had
been cleansed by this divorce, and the remarriage of the
great romantic Frohlich to Lida Baarova, who might not
know how to act — so managers and audiences said — but
who at least had a pedigree with no stain of the Talmud

OF ADOLF HITLER 255

fouling it. All Germany remembered, too, the exquisite
Renate Hueller, who was Aryan enough, and a universal
favorite of the old regime. But her husband was of the
seed of David, and the most peremptory instructions from
Goebbels to her to obtain a divorce had been with no
reason whatever in the world refused! Naturally, her pic-
tures were expunged from the Fatherland, and in 1937
she showed her belated repentance by committing suicide,
as a last tribute to the purity of Nordic art.

For other important reasons purity was maintained, too.
There was lovely Greta Tiemer, Vienna born, Aryan from
the top of her blonde page boy bob to the tip of her
twinkling toes. But she became a fixture in divorce actions
of prominent Nazis, as the "unknown blonde" co-respon-
dent; so she was shunted into less public adultery. Even
before her it had been shapely Maria Paudler, once so
universal a movie favorite. No one ever quite knew her
connection with Baroness Benita von Berg and Baroness
Renate von Natzmer, two German noblewomen who were
made to kneel to have their heads chopped off as spies,
condemned by the grim People's Tribunal. But the mere
breath of scandal had been enough to cause her name and
face to be blacked out the length and breadth and height
of the Reich: art must remain Nordic and pure! With a
morality so strict that if singer, actor or actress could
even spell the word "adultery" he or she was suspect, it
was no cheerful news that lovely little Herta Fuchs was
in trouble.

Well, I would know soon, I decided, rejoining Erik in
the Foreign Office for the ride over. He talked only of
what he had seen in Vienna; and some of the Jewish sui-
cides he described were simply excruciating.

z S 6 THE STRANGE DEATH

When we arrived at the apartment, Ulrica was her own
exquisite self. While her husband went in to prepare for
dinner, she flew into my arms for a swift kiss and caress,
that left us both extremely unfit for appearance under
the auspices of the Department of Propaganda and Public
Enlightenment. But, for all of the rouge she wore and
speedily repaired, it was clear that her face was as white
as Pentelican marble underneath; and under the soft sweet-
ness in her eyes there were pools of dark bitter despair.

It was not until the flawlessly appointed dinner was
over, and the three of us had moved into the living room
for coffee and liqueurs and odorous Corona Coronas for
two of us, that she spoke at last. And her husband had to
pry it out of her, even then. "Well, my little rose, here
we are, the two of us. What in the world has happened to
Herta? You spoke of trouble. She's married, so it's hardly
the usual thing that annoys a girl. Why, the poor innocent
little darling, what sort of trouble can she be in? We are in
a fever to learn."

"Goebbels has forced her to become his mistress," said
Ulrica straightly.

"Ach, good God!" said von Arnheim, his cigar falling
out of his mouth, until the ash sprayed his trouser leg and
he had to stamp out sparks on the rug. "Ulrica, you're in-
sane! Or she is."

"So? But listen, then — I'll make you believe me! I'll tell
it all to you, every word, just as the poor frightened dar-
ling told it to me today. You can be patient, while I tell
it all?"

We nodded, both of us tense for every detail of such a
story. I, I think I believed it, at once. For he has the face
of a perverted satyr, a leer that fouls a woman with a very

OF ADOLF HITLER 257

look; and I had heard enough dark things hinted about
him; but said openly, never before. But it would not do
yet to let Ulrica know what I thought. Never speak or
act until you can crush, the Leader always said; and I
have observed that as a rule he knew what he was talking
about.

Ulrica's voice was level as she talked. But there can be
ups and downs to such a Death Valley, and those passion-
ate ups and tragic downs we heard. A lift of her lovely
eyebrows, a rise of a note in the monotone of her ghastly
story, or the hopeless fall of one note, marked all the dif-
ference between heaven and hell. So . . .

"Four months ago, Herta said, she began singing at
the Schwarz Anser. I myself had urged the management
to give her the audition; and they went wild over her voice
— from the start she was more of a hit than I ever was."

"Nonsense," said her husband.

"It is impossible," I spoke swiftly.

But Ulrica's hand hushed us, and she proceeded with
the dread, dead monotone of her story. "She was already
married, no, to Konrad, and his voice thrills all Deutsch-
land; my word was a feather in securing her the audition,
while his weighed as lead. Both of you know what I have
always said about the Propaganda Reichsminister: the
heart of a hideous devil, no kindness, no sweetness, all
slime. Well, you shall hear. He heard her sing, five weeks
ago. He sent an orderly around to ask her to come to
his table. Well, he was the Reichsminister; what could she
do? I think she was very glad to go; it might mean much
to both of them. So she went to his table; and he saw her,
and wanted her, and took her."

"No, no," insisted her husband. "It's not like him."

25 8 THE STRANGE DEATH

But I watched her lovely lips, and knew better uses to
put them to, and remained silent.

"Listen." Her face grew harder. "He was all slime in
his praise. — But she had the voice all Germany waited to
hear; the voice the whole world waited to hear, he said.
He would see that the whole world heard it, as Germany's
greatest! Her husband? Ach, yes; he had heard of him;
splendid voice; but of him another time. — She must come
around to the Propaganda Ministry the next afternoon, he
insisted, and give him an audition. There were things he
would do with her, that she did not even dream of yet.
She thanked him, happy little tears of joy in her eyes.
— Ah, but no, my child, you must not go yet. You must
sit down, and drink with us, until it is time for your next
song. And we will all cry 'Heil Herta!' And so she sat
down until it was time for her to sing again; and his eyes
did not leave her." Ulrica shuddered. And so did I. I too
knew those cobra eyes.

"Frau Magda Goebbels was not along?" I asked.

"Frau Magda was not along. Naturally. Only men. She
was so proud and excited that night, she told me; and
Konrad, too. The next afternoon she arrived at the Min-
istry. — She must sing in costume, she was told. And so
she was given a dressing-room to change in, and a maid
who directed her all she was to put on, garment by gar-
ment, and how. She gives me her word that, just as she
was about to slip on the first filmy robe she was to wear,
she realized an eye was watching her from some hole in
the walls of the room, — a black, beady eye, like a snake.
She could not see it, she said; she sensed it, she knew it,
she could have drawn it."

u Now, now, Ulrica," I protested, "the girl is all imag-

OF ADOLF HITLER

259

ination and moonshine. — This, in the Propaganda Min-
istry!" I reflected. "And, besides, it might have been a
Blackshirt guard."

"Watching a girl's dressing-room? Dear Little Adolf,
I have only her word for it. She is imaginative, intuitive,
yes; but I, I believe what she says. It was no Blackshirt,
I believe. Well, she sang. Lieder, arias, all her repertoire.
And now and again she must change her costume again.
Again and always she swears the black, beady eye like a
snake was watching her, she says; until her body burned
hot and red from it. And then," her voice slowed, grew
gravid with significance, "he called her in — she was in the
flimsiest of all the costumes this last time. A Titania —
after an Undine. He told her, eyes licking over her body,
that there was no height she could not rise to, if she was —
nice to him. He believed in her, he said; only give him a
chance. ... I think she guessed what he wanted, then.
— But she was nice to everyone, she said; she would be
especially nice to him, always. Ach no, he whispered, catch-
ing hold of her hand, and stroking the arm from the shoul-
der down — he was a lonely man, and she must be as nice to
him as he wanted."

"Rather direct," I commented.

"Sssh, let her finish," insisted her husband.

"It was dreadfully difficult for the poor little infant.
She's really infinitely young and sweet; she was married
when she was barely out of school, and she's been taking
vocal or acting ever since, and always with Konrad to
look after her, half like a father. She couldn't afford to
offend Goebbels. She wasn't quite sure he meant what she
was afraid of. She thanked him with all the sweet dignity
she could, and told him she and her husband were most

i6o

THE STRANGE DEATH

deeply grateful, and she thought it was wonderful of
him to help her, and she and her husband would come and
sing for him and Frau Goebbels whenever he desired."
"Bravo!" I applauded.

Ulrica's hand rose swiftly. "Ach, she said, but his eyes
shot black fire at this; 'It is not that I want,' he sneered,
she said. ' — Sing! I want you — as my love, my mistress — ' "

"Goebbels!" I gasped, almost scandalized. So careful I
had always thought him.

Erik's look hushed me. Ulrica continued. "So he spoke:
' — That, or I'll drive you out of Germany. So?' and he
put his hand familiarly on the flimsy costume, really noth-
ing to hide her body beneath, and held her close for a
moment. — Touched her, Adolf. Forced her to let him
touch her intimately."

I leaned back, shaking my head. Erik drew in his breath
sharply. "Swine!" he said.

Ulrica's voice spoke monotonously on. "That night she
told it all to Konrad. All but the final touch. He wrote a
letter to the Reichsminister. For that insult to his wife,
he said, and to every German girl and woman and wife as
represented in her, he said, at his next hour on the air he
would announce to Germany and the world what kind of
dirty swine the Reichsminister was."

I smiled with delight. "Colossal! I'd like to have seen
the little shrimp's face when he got that letter!"

But Erik only stared gravely at his wife, holding his
hands one in the other until the knuckles whitened.

Ulrica's monotone continued. "He would have done it,
too, if they had ever let him appear again on the air. And
Goebbels knew it. The next night, Herta told me, she
returned home from the cafe. She was worried already;

OF ADOLF HITLER

Konrad's program had been replaced by another tenor,
without explanation; what could it mean? In the apart-
ment, no Konrad; and no word from him. But there was
word." Again she shuddered. "It was a telegram from the
Gestapo, saying that her husband was detained, under
orders from the Propaganda Reichsminister. She phoned
at once to the Ministry. A secretary told her that her
husband was all right, and the next day she would be told
all; it was for her not to worry; only, to let no one know,
or it would be most harmful for her husband. The Min-
ister, he said, was trying to prevent a trial before the
People's Tribunal."

This time I drew in my breath sharply. Erik stared at
the floor, his mouth working.

"Three days poor Herta tried frantically to get to Goeb-
bels. Each time she was put off, with more dreadful warn-
ings that she must not mention the matter to a living soul,
or she might never see Konrad again. Mysteriously all his
appearances on the air were cancelled; she could learn no
reason, and she dared ask nothing direct, or tell anything
direct. Not even to me, then. Things happen so in Ger-
many." Ulrica sighed heavily. "The fourth day, she was
allowed to see this Goebbels in the Ministry. In a different
room. With a bed in it." Her voice stopped.

I, I was too excited to interrupt. What a story this was!
If once the enemies of Goebbels, and they were myriad,
learned of this. . . . But Erik stared still at the floor, his
face working tensely.

"He talked, now. He was all sympathy. Her husband,
unfortunately, was in a concentration camp, she was told,
for suspected subversive activities. There was a threat of
a trial before the People's Tribunal — so far, only the

262

THE STRANGE DEATH

Reichsminister himself had prevented this. Such trials, said
Goebbels softly, meant always a death sentence; so it had
been so far, and could one expect an exception? As to these
camps, he said — this slimy little dwarf, 'I do not like them.
I have here some pictures. . . He showed the pictures.
There were men in agony, nearly naked, some naked, being
beaten, being bound to stocks and dreadful instruments,
their bodies bleeding and bruised. . . . Men being tor-
tured and mutilated in unspeakable ways. . . . And finally,
corpses, hideous, distorted, swollen, nearly naked, naked,
laid out in the pitiless sun. From all this he could save
Konrad, he said quietly, if she did what he wanted. Now.
At once. In this room. — Oh, but never, never, she pleaded
hysterically; she would die first. — Die then, he said; talk
was cheap; in any case, unless she did it, Konrad would be
beaten and tortured and then killed, before nightfall, un-
less she yielded; only her yielding would have him alive
when the sun set once again. Only her yielding would
keep his case from the People's Tribunal." She could say
no more.

"Well?" Erik asked heavily.

"She loved Konrad. And so she yielded."

It was too much for me to credit; at least, word must
never go back to Goebbels that anyone had believed such
things. "But you have only her word for all this," I pro-
tested. "Goebbels is no fool, however much of a swine he
is! It is not fair to condemn any man on one girl's story —
And Konrad might have said subversive things; people
talk, and a few words. . .

"This is Ulrica's sister," said Erik sternly. "Herta never
lies. No. That is not in her." I could see that he believed

OF ADOLF HITLER 263

it all. I, I saw no reason not to believe it. And yet . . .
power is power. . . .

"That was three weeks ago," continued Ulrica sadly.
"She thought, from what was said that first time, that
Konrad would be freed at once. But no, it was only that
he would not be put to death, said the Reichsminister, and
would not be tortured or beaten, as long as she came when
she was summoned, and did as she was told, and told no
one, no one on earth. For three weeks — three weeks of
utter dreadful hell — she has done as he made her. "When-
ever he sent for her. She sang her tragic Lieder better than
ever; but the others, the light ones. . . . And now, at last,
this morning, she received a letter from Konrad. Do not
ask me how he got it smuggled to her; even she does not
know. It came. He had been beaten, he wrote; he had been
tortured. Unless he can escape, he wrote, he will die. That
is the letter she received this morning from him. What is
she to do?" She stood still and tall beside her chair. "I told
her one thing only. Unless she secures his freedom, if
anything happens to him, I will shoot Goebbels, myself!"

"Ach, Ulrica darling, I can't believe it! If you knew
Goebbels as well as I do — he is capable of villainy, yes;
but not so crude, so open. There is something hidden — "

"No, Little Adolf," said Erik distantly. "I know him,
too. It is all true, every word of it." His stern eyes stared
off into the distance. "He can do much. Others can do,
too. For this, he will be hounded out of Germany. And I,
I will do it, myself!"

"No, but, Erik, consider! Consider his power — "

"If he were the Leader himself, I would say it — I would
mean it! Nothing will stop me, once I have set my soul
to do justice! I too have Leader in me!" He looked very

264 THE STRANGE DEATH

terrible at that moment: the Junker, the eternal Protestant,
embodied all in him at that moment.

"Erik, it is not wise! It may not be true, remember — "

"I know it is true." His face was heavier. "I have always
guessed it might be something like this. It is like him, too
like him. But this — it is the last time. My own wife's little
sister! And Konrad of the golden voice! Ach, when I get
through twisting his neck — "

"Erik!" said Ulrica, herself alarmed at last.

I did not yield. "It may be that so Goebbels has saved
Germany from a traitor."

"The only traitor in this story is the swine himself," said
Erik fiercely. "Traitor to everything decent, and fine, and
pure, and noble, and Nordic. Once let me get him. . .

But what were we to do? At my suggestion, we laid aside
the pointless discussion of possibilities, for Konrad's actual
situation, for Herta's situation. True or not, guilty or not,
something must be done. Could I take it to the Leader,
pleaded Ulrica. Could Erik?

I said I was willing to do anything she wished; but for
me, I felt it wiser to lull your enemy, mass the attack,
not move until I could crush him. I had observed, I ex-
plained, that this was the most efficacious way. " — Leave it
to me," said Erik harshly, "I will handle it, and maybe not
through the Leader."

Ulrica, looking more helplessly beautiful than ever,
pleaded with me; wouldn't I promise to do something
about it? There was nothing I could do but promise — at
least, to inquire at once. That is always a safe promise to
make. I left at night, cursing the fate that made it one
of those nights when Erik was at home. I returned to the
Chancellery just after midnight, troubled.

OF ADOLF HITLER

265

CHAPTER XIX

I FACE MY OWN PROBLEM

S I look back to that mad early spring of 1938, I

il sometimes think we were all a little mad; everyone
I knew closely, indeed, everyone in Germany. "We were
getting too much too easily; we came to feel there was
no limit to what we could get. I have observed that life
fixes a limit to everything.

I cannot blame the Leader for his hysterical determina-
tion to achieve the Anschluss, which led to that rather dis-
graceful scene at Der Berghof in which he screamed and
shrieked at the Austrian Chancellor for eleven hours, more
like a fishwife than a statesman, until he had battered his
resistance down. But the tension of this bred a kind of
madness in him too; and within four days he had promised
full protection to the Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia
— a magnificently audacious gesture, that might mean ac-
tual European warfare.

You would think that these international tensions would
keep all of us busy enough. But no, if what Ulrica told
me was to be believed, here was Goebbels using his vast
power to satisfy his own personal lusts; exiling Herta's
husband to, a concentration camp, and, by threat of the
People's Tribunal, forcing his will on her. True or not,
here was Ulrica embroidering to the point of obsession the

z66

THE STRANGE DEATH

charge that the Leader was an onanist; and now flying off
the handle utterly, and threatening to shoot Goebbels for
what he had done to her sister. Worst of all, here was
Erik, Reichsminister and Party leader as he was; he most
of all should have kept his head, at least until he investi-
gated this whole mad story his wife repeated to him. Yet
he had swallowed it as if it were a report of the Gestapo,
and had raved that he would hound Goebbels out of
Germany and twist his neck.

And I, I began to share the madness, the emotional
tension, too. As her husband, Erik surely had the right
to spend at least an occasional night in the house with
Ulrica, as last night. But she had been so tantalizing to
me in her tragic sorrow, that I was furious that it had
turned out so: that the situation banned me from doing
more than decorously bidding her goodnight, and leaving
her with the man who had no ethical right to be there,
whatever legal right he might have had. I went home,
wishing he had been Konrad Fuchs. A little mad, all of
us. . . .

Erik called me into conference the next morning, in his
chambers in the Foreign Office. I myself had my own
problems. The Leader was to fly to Vienna the next day,
and there had been a slip-up, and conflicting dates, so that
he had also agreed to give an interview to an American
journalist in Berlin at the same hour. 'Well, I must of
course be the Leader in Berlin, while he was orating in
his native Austria. On top of my intensive preparation
for that, the husband, whose mere presence had begun to
annoy me as an obstacle to my own natural living, had to
summon me to his chambers. I have observed that it never
rains but it bursts a cloud.

OF ADOLF HITLER i6 7

Erik gave me a cigar, served brandy, strode up and
down his study. Perhaps charged would be the better
word; he seemed so bottled up with repressed anger. "Now
first of all, Little Adolf, I have good news for you," he
said.

"There is room for it, God knows. What now?" At the
least, it ought to mean a weekend trip for him to some
nearby capital needing Nazi persuasion; it might mean a
whole week.

"For me," he grinned expansively, "no more shooting
around the Reich and nearby like a messenger boy. The
Anschluss is a fact, now. I am in Vienna needed no more.
In Prague and Pilsen, perhaps; but I can always be sum-
moned back for that. In Rome is where the real danger
lies: to quiet II Duce, and assure his support in what must
come soon. He will be demanding his share of the spoils;
it is for me to convince him that he is over-rewarded, in
being recognized as our major ally. And so, my dear friend,
I am to go as special envoy to Rome — an appointment that
will be made permanent, as ambassador, within the month.
And then, a few months riveting the Axis, and I return
to Berlin — and it is hinted that Ribbentrop will be shifted,
and Foreign Affairs will be mine at last!"

I gave the salute. "Heil Hitler! Heartiest congratula-
tions, dearest friend. But this is colossal news! But what
will you do with — with Ulrica, when vou are stationed so
permanently beside the Tiber?"

He shook his head. "Alas, it will break her heart to leave
poor Herta, harassed to death as she is, at this time. But of
course she goes with me."

"Naturally," I said, in a quiet voice. "I meant the matter
of poor Herta, but certainly." But a flame of red anger

z68

THE STRANGE DEATH

shot through me. Not one night, but permanently! What
right did he have to let his public life disturb my satis-
factory private affairs so? "And this is all already official?"
I probed.

"Absolutely. I had to be in the room with that swine
Goebbels when the Leader informed me. I had to smile
at him, if you please, when I wanted my hands on his
throat! My hour will come, Little Adolf, my hour will
come! Well, so much for the good news. For the rest, I do
not know. You, you do not wholly believe this story, no?"

"That Herta said it, yes; surely Ulrica's word settles
that. But she might be mistaken. Look, it might be some-
one using Goebbels' name, his power, his offices even, to
trick her. Such things have been."

"Now, now, now, it's the first time I ever heard you
defending the swine! I told you I am to fly to Prague at
dawn tomorrow, no? Conference with Henlein. This is
a message for you from Ulrica. She was more than disap-
pointed that you did not fully credit all that Herta said.
You must be our ally, Little Adolf; there is no other way!
And so, if you are free this afternoon, she will meet you
at the Kaiserhof , the Red Lounge, and go with you herself
to Herta, and you are to hear the story from the girl's
own lips. Ach, if only I had time to be with you — and
myself to act, even now! But I must be in conference till
God knows what hours, getting instructions for tomorrow.
At four, then, you'll meet her in the Red Lounge?"

"But surely, Herr Reichsminister!"

I gave the salute, and left. What a mad tangle it was
all growing to be! From von Arnheim's chambers, I next
had to visit the Chancellor's study, and go over what were
to be my opinions as the Leader when I was interviewed

OF ADOLF HITLER

the next day by this journalist from America. Herr Hitler
himself was a little hysterical, so much was happening each
day. I had next to read and memorize his personal letters
and his answers to them, to be prepared to know his atti-
tude on any subject that might conceivably come up. And
then I was kept on for the conference, while matters deal-
ing with the Sudeten were gone over with von Arnheim.
It was not until twenty-five after four that I arrived at
the Red Lounge.

Ulrica was still waiting for me, dreadfully nervous, rub-
bing her hands, biting her lips. "You did come!"

I disengaged her caress finally. "But this trip to Rome — "

"Darling, we haven't a moment. I must be at Frau
Goring's at six — and look what it is now! And Herta has
been waiting this half hour — I phoned her for God's sake
to forgive our being a little late. He will be in Prague
tomorrow night, darling — all we want to talk — "

"With this I had to be contented. We taxied to the apart-
ment of her sister, and I met the lovely Herta Fuchs for
the second time. But how changed since I had seen her
hardly six weeks before! As beautiful as ever, yes; but
there was something hard and bitter and black staring
intermittently out of her eyes, that was not good to see.

"I can't stay but a minute," Ulrica said, after the two
sisters clung together for a breathless embrace. "Hold back
nothing, as I said, darling. He at least is to be trusted to
the death. More than Erik. As much as Konrad. As much
as I."

She left swiftly, and Herta Fuchs and I were at last
alone together. She dragged herself around listlessly, as if
the life had gone out of her soul. "There are drinks," she
said. "Pour me one. But nothing does me any good now,

zyo

THE STRANGE DEATH

though. — Yes, thanks," as I offered her a cigarette, and
leaned back to enjoy one myself.

She sat regarding me without words. I waited for her
to speak. So I always had to do, with the Leader. I have
observed that one learns more so.

"Ulrica has told you?"

"But yes. Yet it might be better if you started at the
beginning, and told everything. . . ."

I studied her closely, as she leaned forward and poured
out the story as Ulrica had told it, only not quite the same,
with more pauses and a more dreadful horror in her voice.
She made it all live again before me, from that first after-
noon at the Ministry, when she felt the black, beady,
snake eye watching her unseen while the maid changed
her to this costume and that, between the groups of her
songs; and what happened at the end, what he said when
he stroked her arm so tightly, and then touched her as no
wife can let herself be touched. As the story unfolded —
her husband's frienzied letter threatening to reveal the
scandal to all the Reich over the air, his dreadful disap-
pearance and the three days and nights of black uncer-
tainty when she could get no word, only a warning to say
nothing, and of her summons to the ministry at last — I
studied her, and my own eyes warmed at what I saw. She
had an exquisite body, a little smaller than Ulrica's: bud,
rather than fullblown blossom. I walked to and fro, paus-
ing now and then to get a better view of her body, more
than hinted under her shimmery hostess gown. Poor child,
she had dressed herself in her best for this tragic interview!
Her legs were flawless, from the gold slippers to the spread
curves of the thighs; and her rump, as I myself had ob-
served when Ulrica hugged her, was even more to notice.

OF ADOLF HITLER

271

It became clearer to me how any man would go to elab-
orate planning to secure all these treasures. And yet, it
was very risky for any man to do things as openly as she
claimed that the Propaganda Minister had. . . .

She was crying, as she told the rest of it. But I encour-
aged her to omit nothing. My face was all sympathetic
when she told of the ghastly pictures of the men mutilated
and tortured and finally dead in the concentration camp;
and of the ultimatum to her: Do as I say now, or by sunset
tomorrow it would be her husband's picture that would
be shown to her so. And she had loved her husband so,
what else could she do? Had she not done right?

I was seated beside her now, trying to quiet her hysteria.
I patted her shoulder, her leg, sympathetically: but of
course she had done right; she had done nobly. But tell me
all the details, I insisted. And she omitted none: so only
would all be well with Konrad, he had told her. Then,
when he was not freed, she had gone to Goebbels again,
and accused him of breaking his word. But no, he said,
her husband was being held for subversive utterances;
only, there would be no beating, no tortures, as long as she
was amiable. If not, the People's Tribunal ... at dawn,
the next day; and, by night. . . .

And so she had yielded each time. And then, a letter
from Konrad, smuggled out she could not guess how. . . .
He had been beaten, he had been tortured, he would die
if something were not done. . . .

I had my arm around her now, utterly excited at the
whole story. If she would only let me help her, I begged
her; if she would only trust me, trust me utterly, there
was nothing I would not do. . . .

When my hand touched her intimately, she stiffened

2/2 THE STRANGE DEATH

back abruptly. "But I do not know what you mean! You
— you love Ulrica, don't you? Isn't it so?"
"Why— er— "

"She told me you were her lover!"

I shrugged. "I love her more than any woman in the
world, but naturally. One does not admit things, when
there is a husband. ..."

"But you want . . . me, to be . . . nice to you!"

My hands were tighter now. "Only trust me, trust me
utterly, there is nothing I will not do!"

"You dirty swine!" She flashed to her feet, angry like
a tigress. "And I trusted you, and Ulrica trusts you! Are
all you men alike? Ugh, do you think I'd let you touch me,
or him again, or any man in the world but Konrad?
Haven't you the faintest idea what love means? — How
she can love a thing as low as you! You will not help, not
you, ever! I can read your soul!" It was real hysteria now.
"You are all slime, all muck, yourself, like him! All ordure!
I need your help, things like this have happened to me,
and all you can think of is what he thought of! Ach God,
I could kill myself! That German men are like this!"

"But you did not understand me," I spoke rather stiffly;
it was best not to press this matter now. "I merely said
that, if you trusted me utterly, I would pledge my soul
to do all I could to secure your husband's release. For that,
you scold me!"

She stared at me with angry suspicion. "You did not
mean that you wanted me, my body, now?"

My eyes widened with disbelief. "But I loved Ulrica!
Naturally not."

She stared at me harshly. "Pour me another drink. I was

OF ADOLF HITLER

*73

overwrought, then. I am sorry. I am glad that you will
help Konrad."

It did not seem the occasion to do more than repeat
my promise to make the fullest inquiries. I have found
the scruples of women at times extremely inconvenient.

The next day I was at my best in the interview with
the American journalist. I felt inspired to give the per-
formance of my career. If I had not succeeded in every
field, there were fields in which I was incomparable. I made
clear to him how every act that I and my Nazis had done
was inspired only by a great love for the world's peace,
which could only be achieved by the world's accepting
German leadership. The Reich must include every German,
no matter where he lived; so naturally the soul's dream
of the Germans in the Sudeten must be granted to them,
as had happened already in Austria. If there were Germans
in London or America, I said, could mere geography wipe
out the love of the Fatherland in their hearts? The Father-
land was wherever a German was. A man could no more
change his race, his nationality, than he could change his
ears or his liver. The United States, as I explained, was
predominantly Nordic as it was; there could be only peace
between the Nordic nations. When I saw the interview
later, it was headed:

HITLER FAVORS IMMEDIATE GERMAN WORLD!

It pleased the Leader as much as it pleased me. He himself
saw the proofs, changed the punctuation in several places,
and added two Heil Hitlers that I had forgotten.

That night, with Erik safely in Prague, I was given a
chance for a long, serious talk with Ulrica. Her going to

274 THE STRANGE DEATH

Rome was most inconsiderate, I said; think how lonely it
would leave me! And it was not my personal feelings that
mattered most, I said; she had been named Frau Germania
officially — and how could Frau Germania leave Germany?

She sat studying the stem of her wine glass. "I am not
interested in all Germany, Little Adolf. The title meant
nothing to me. But . . . you — I do not want to leave
you lonely, no."

"Then you will not go!"

"If you cared for me as I care for you, I don't believe
we would ever be parted again. Do you realize that I love
you, Adolf?"

"But naturally, darling! As I love you — "

She continued to stare at the stem of her wine glass.
"With Erik. . . . He is all consideration and I wouldn't
do anything to hurt him that I could avoid. But with you,
dear, it is different. After all you are the father of my
children. If you want me to stay, I will stay."

Naturally, I was all overjoyed at this. "Magnificent!
And how shall we announce it to him, darling."

"He will give me a divorce, I imagine. He's dreadfully
decent."

I shook my head at this. "That makes it unpleasantly
public, doesn't it?"

"But how else could I marry you?"

Now wasn't that just like a woman! "My dear, I am
Little Adolf, the Leader's double. To me, marriage is natu-
rally forbidden. I am not free like other men; not until
death. Until his death, at least. Then at last I would be
free, and take a wife; but now — no."

Her face weighed me. "But if he died, and no one knew,
and then they asked you to keep on impersonating him.

OF ADOLF HITLER 275

. . . Erik has said something like that, jokingly, of
course. . . ."

How could I object to a prospect as remote and delight-
ful as that? "Ah, yes, in that event; but it is not to be
thought of now. There must be some other way to keep
you here."

She wept a little, but soon I made her forget her tears.
At least, she came back to it much later, I knew now all
that had happened to Herta; I was convinced?

I realized that this was a time for careful walking. Ach,
yes, I was convinced that all this had happened to Herta
from some villain; and the man who had done it, I said,
would be made to pay to it — even to the death; I pledged
her my word for that. This was enough to make her cheer-
ful; and a woman, I have observed, is much more pleasure
when she is cheerful.

I went back to the Chancellery, the next morning, more
than ever troubled at the whole situation. Ulrica must be
kept in Berlin; that was definite. But how could I achieve
this? When the Leader was confronted with a problem, he
found an answer always. I have observed that the secret
of his brilliance is to use common sense. The common
sense of this matter would be to eliminate the husband.
I was sure his advice would be valuable, if I could have
secured it. But the Leader would hardly be sympathetic to
that, especially when his Frau Germania was concerned.
But there must be a way, and I swore to myself that I
would find it. I have always observed that when I make up
my mind, something happens.

Something did.

i 7 6 THE STRANGE DEATH

CHAPTER XX

THE COBRA STRIKES

I AM convinced that we were all of us a little mad that
spring; and the solution I found, as I was brushing my
teeth after breakfast that morning, had all the brilliance
of an insane solution, so simple it was, so obvious from the
start. To me, it had the simplicity of plane geometry.
Goebbels, or someone in his department, had desired Herta,
and her husband was in the way. Well, where was the hus-
band now? And, meanwhile, Herta was very much present
in Berlin, and when she was desired she was available. It
was incredible to have Erik von Arnheim take my own
mistress to Rome; it was not fair to me, nor was it fair
to the Party, or to the Reich, to have Frau Germania
leave so. Yet he would not go without her. An insuperable
impasse? Not to me! He must not go, then!

But how could this be achieved? Again, by letting him
act as Konrad had acted, which had solved the whole
situation. Nothing remained, once I had come to this
conclusion, but to arrange to have Erik removed to a con-
centration camp, instead of to Rome. There might be diffi-
culties; but what is life for, if not to give the opportunity
to us to eliminate difficulties?

In the mid-morning I went in to the Reichsminister
for Propaganda and Public Enlightenment, and asked if

OF ADOLF HITLER 277

I could have a few minutes of his time. He was in a good
humor, for news from the Sudeten showed a magnificent
response, among the Nazis there at least, to our tentative
suggestions that they were entitled to autonomy, and that
we were ready to give it to them. ""Well, Little Adolf, no
time like the present, as the bull said to the cow. Don't
tell me you wish more salary! You make more than the
Reichsbank president, as it is." He grinned at me evilly
out of his beady black eyes set in his vulture face. "Why
don't you get some rich industrialist's wife to support you,
the way most of the Party leaders do?"

"Herr Reichsminister," I said diffidently, "it is about
loyalty to the Fatherland, and the Leader, and you, I come
to speak. I am, as you know, in a position of peculiar trust;
and, as one close to the Leader, men and women, too,
speak to me with great freedom, as if I were a conduit
to his ear and yours. I have learned something that might
be of great interest, about one high in the Party councils.
It is my duty to tell it?"

"Everybody dumps his night dirt on my desk," he said.
"Let's have it."

"If one high in the Party councils, in the government
itself," I made it as impressive as possible, "had been heard
to threaten about the Leader, or about one as high in the
Party, say, as Marshal Goring or yourself, that he would
hound him out of Germany, and would indeed strangle
him with his own hands, it is my duty to tell this?"

His face grinned satanically. "I knew it was about time
for another Purge. Let's have it."

"It would not lower me in your regard, to have come
thus close to a traitor to one of the Party heads?"

2 7 % THE STRANGE DEATH

"You'll get paid for it, as you wish. After we have
acted."

"What would happen to such a Party leader, who made
such a threat against one of the Party heads as high as
Marshal Goring or yourself?"

He snickered. "Goring prefers the ax. I like my concen-
tration camps. Protective custody is a slower and surer
punishment. They send me pictures of what is done to the
prisoners, yes. An interesting dossier; some night I will
show them to you. After mutilation and death especially.
We know how to deal with traitors, now. And there is
always the chance that one recants, and names others;
then we have a better Purge. And it is against me that this
was directed, so; or you would have gone to Goring.
Proceed."

I was startled at his intuition. "It is even so. I have
your word there will be such a punishment, then, for the
traitor?"

His claw hand came toward me. "No more words.
—Who?"

"You are about to name as Minister to — "
"Arnheim, eh!" I was again amazed at how fast his
mind leaped correctly to the right solution. " — That he
would hound me out of Germany, eh, and strangle me
himself? What a charming fate for me, no? And why — "
"His wife—" I began.

His face grew more evil than ever. "So. I have heard
that lie myself. I keep the libels against me tabulated on
a card index. This one is recent. — That I annoyed her
sister; isn't that it? Now here are the facts. Konrad Fuchs,
this sister's husband, is under arrest, for his own protec-
tion, for subversive talk. His wife is naturally a sorehead

OF ADOLF HITLER 279

— so the Americans say it; a grumbler. So she talks loose.
Von Arnheim believes this. So. He will hound me out of
Germany, he will strangle me? He!" There was utter
scorn in the dark voice. "You, yourself, actually heard him
say it? You will swear to this?"

"Not once, but a number of times."

His finger pressed a button. I heard it buzz in the outer
office. "I thought he was too grown-up to listen to gossip,"
the Minister snarled. An orderly entered, with a "Heil
Hitler!" and a salute from him, and then from each of us.
Goebbels spoke curtly. "Tell the Leader I wish to come
see him for a moment."

My eyes widened in fright. "He must know!"

"Do not back down from this story, Little Adolf," his
eyes were beads of sanadin, "or you will be held in pro-
tective custody for a long time yourself. Tell him what
you have told me, or I will add pictures of you to my
dossier, no? Fools," he grunted. "It is time for a Purge.
He is useful, too, more's the pity. Maybe there will be
ways of converting him."

We were led into the Leader's study, and all withdrew.
Even the Blackshirts were ordered to stand outside the
windows, since it was only Goebbels and I.

"Tell him," grunted Goebbels.

I gave the salute, and told it all, as I had told it to the
Propaganda Minister. Only, I had noted that the Propa-
ganda Minister had called it a libel, a lie; and so I was
careful to make clear that I dismissed the whole cause of
the incident — the story told by Herta Fuchs — as a com-
plete fabrication, a libel invented to discredit the Minister
and scandalize the administration.

The Leader's face went hard. "This is serious, yes. Our

28o

THE STRANGE DEATH

great thanks to you, Little Adolf, for keen ears and a loyal
heart. So the wind blows up that creek, eh? He can't want
to take over Propaganda! He's a good man, in his field."

"An undoubted expert on foreign affairs. Too Rightist,
always; but otherwise. . . ."

"Yes, that is so, too. And superficially this is not a mat-
ter aimed against me, but against you. And yet," he
weighed it unhappily, "whatever splits our central group,
whatever scandalizes one of us, damages the Party, the
cause. And just when we need him in Rome, too!"

"We have no lack of men and ability," said Goebbels.

"True, too. Well, pick another, then." Hitler sighed.
"I leave him to you. Entirely. What do you expect to
do to him?"

"He is a fool," said Goebbels sharply. "For a long time
we have needed some such thing as this, to cut his comb
a bit. It must not grow too high. A splendid second man,
yes; never a first. I will handle him. Protective custody;
a few serious heart to heart talks; the thing laid on the
table — which does he prefer, to be sterilized as subversive
to Party discipline and then exiled from Germany, even
to go before the Tribunal — or to see sense, and come back
into harness. He will see sense." His face looked as if it
could have torn the man apart with a vulture's beak, as
he spoke.

"That seems thoroughly wise." The leader spoke wearily.
"I will forget it now, and leave him to you. Oh, but word
from Prague! Henlein agrees to announce the demands
I suggested; so the eastward sweep gains momentum, no?
Will they stop us," his eyes stared far off, "at the Pacific?
I do not think so. Waves roll around the world."

"Look at the wave of proper punishment of this interna-

OF ADOLF HITLER 281

tional Jewish conspiracy," said Goebbels, face warped with
delight. "There is no country that is not feeling its im-
pulse, now! Poland, little Danzig, Czechoslovakia, Hun-
gary, Italy, Spain, France, Colombia, Peru, the Argentine,
and throughout the whole United States — we have started
a movement that will not end, until even the name Jew
has been wiped out of man's chronicles. For the Jew is
responsible for democracy — the leveling of mankind until
the Leader is no higher than the follower; and your attack
on that spirit will not end until all Europe is Nazi, hailing
you as Leader! And, after Europe, South America, North
America; Africa, with all of our colonies enlarged; Asia,
with Communism ended and even Japan learning to say
'Heil Hitler' instead of 'Banzai.' "

"It is a wave," said the Leader gravely. "It is sweeping
the world, yes. Peacefully, so far. It will not all be
peaceful."

Goebbels' face lighted up with wild fanaticism. "There
is bound to be war — with Germany triumphant. War is
the simple affirmation of life. You can no more suppress
war than you can suppress nature itself, moving in its own
natural way. We sacrifice much, my Leader, when we
permit peace and postpone war? And when we have such
a war as must follow the wave of your triumphant plan-
ning, to produce the pan-German world, there will be
protective custody for all Jewish swine — and then what?
Protective custody is an admirable thing." He considered
it gloatingly. "For, when we have the Jews so, has it ever
occurred to you that a simple surgical operation on a mere
seven and a half million males will half solve the whole
problem for us? They are all circumcized; let a simple
castration hereafter accompany each circumcision — to be

282

THE STRANGE DEATH

done retroactively in the case of all already circumcized —
and a bare half is left of the problem. And the Jewish
women are equally subversive. Once they are spayed, the
matter is ended in one generation! And nine and a half
million of them are in Europe now, practically under our
thumb! As soon as we have a Nazi Europe, a potent Jewish
male is unthinkable. And then the four million in North
America, and the mere handful elsewhere — and the whole
disease is extirpated. Look how the wave spreads! The
refugees — have you seen any country leaping to accept
even one of them? The stupid United States, for all of its
Jewish control there, shuts the doors on any more. So every
nation, each one saying, 'Let our neighbors take them.'
France says, Tut them in Ethiopia' — but not in a French
colony! Italy says put them in the cemetery, as we do.
If we could only censor all that the Pope says, and this
Roosevelt, and the others who speak in favor of them. . . .
What an encouraging thing, my Leader, to read of a
Jewish suicide! That is the sort of cooperation we cannot
have too much of. This wave is spreading — and our wave
to the east is just as satisfactory!"

The conference ended on this high note. I left it, caring
not at all about this rather absurd persecution of the
Jews; after all, I had never met a Jew who was not friendly
and better behaved than his gentile neighbors. But I was
dazed with delight at my personal problem and its solution
at last: so well I had planned, so well I had achieved! And
I knew Goebbels would not delay. . . .

A cryptic wire came to me from Ulrica just after I had
finished dinner:

E. GONE. COME AT ONCE.

U.

OF ADOLF HITLER 283

This was a visit I looked forward to with much pleasure.
I bathed and dressed with unusual care, and went around
to console the bereaved darling. It would have been amus-
ing to have told her just how brilliantly I had solved our
problem, if I could have been sure that she would under-
stand it just as I did. But she might not have understood
the complete necessity for what I had done, and it would
be better to wait until she expressed complete relief at her
husband's elimination; and then we could laugh together
over how well I had managed it.

I was disappointed when I saw her woe-begone face.
"Oh, Adolf, darling, the most dreadful thing has hap-
pened," she greeted me, even as I was kissing her. "Erik
was kidnapped, just before five this afternoon, by three
of the Gestapo, and God knows where they've taken him!
A clerk at the Foreign Office phoned me — and that was
all he could find out. What am I to do!"

"But why!" I exclaimed, as if thoroughly mystified.
"What in the world has he done!"

"It's what someone has done to him," she said brokenly.
"That is how things are done, in Germany. Some one goes
with a lie to any official, and they have power to do this
even to each other. Look how Goebbels is allowed to censor
even members of the ministry! He's even dared to dictate
what von Papen, Schacht and Streicher are allowed to say
— and, meanwhile, he's emitting such infantile nonsense as
his attack on the lemon as Jewish in origin,* and urging
that we use the Nordic folkic rhubarb in its place. Ach,
it makes one weep! He, or Goring, or any of half a dozen

* Frau von Arnheim's error. The lemon was attacked as sinful and alien,
but not definitely as Jewish.

284

THE STRANGE DEATH

others could have done this; or, of course, the German
Narcissus." Her lips curled in scorn.

"But, sweet, you must not speak of the Leader so!"
I insisted. "He himself has said that if a man does his duty
fully to the Party, the cause, and Germany, it makes no
difference whom he sleeps with the night before."

"But what in God's name am I to do about Erik! Just
when he's been appointed to go to Rome, too!"

"And you with him. And you didn't want to go. Now
perhaps you won't have to." I tried to hint gently to her
what delightful news this was to our dreams.

She did not take the hint. "Surely the Leader will know.
That's why I sent for you. You can get in touch with him;
find out for me!"

"Well, it is presumption. . . ." But I knew that it was
not, I was so high in his confidence. "I can phone him."
I got the call put through without any difficulty. "This is
Ludwig Zeit speaking, Herr Reichskanzler. I am at the
residence of Reichsminister von Arnheim. Frau von Arn-
heim reports that her husband disappeared with three
Gestapo officers this afternoon just before five, and she is
unable to find trace of him. Is it possible that he is in
conference with your Excellency?"

I listened carefully, thanked him for his information,
saluted the instrument, and gave the hail "Heil Hitler!"
Only then was it permitted to hang the receiver up. I
turned to her with a troubled face. "Herr Hitler says that
in due time his absence will be explained thoroughly; that
he knows where your husband is, and it is confidential
Party business, not to be inquired about." I did not repeat
what he had added, that I was to find out all I could about
her attitude, also.

OF ADOLF HITLER *8j

Her face went ashen. "Good God! Just like Konrad
Fuchs! It must be that same damnable little Goebbels at
the bottom of this too. Ach, God, what a blessing to Ger-
many if the Leader would turn him over to Goring and
his ax!"

I shrugged. "I do not like him, Ulrica sweetest, as you
so well know. But he is good at propaganda. What is one
to do? He has power; and it is never wise, I have observed,
to walk carelessly too close to power."

"But what did they arrest him for! "We were to dine
here, and he had tickets for Tristram und Isolde, and even
tomorrow, he was told, his appointment to Rome would
be announced. Oh, it's tragic, tragic! And there is nothing
on God's stricken earth to do about it!"

I smiled tenderly at her, she looked so deliciously woe-
begone. "Let us take a moratorium on our troubles — that
is my suggestion. You slip into an evening dress, and /
will take you to Tristram! It would be a shame to waste
two such tickets."

Her eyes were appalled. "But I couldn't! I'd be miser-
able! Oh, Adolf, no, no! Please don't make me!"

But I smiled firmly at her. "For your own good, darling,
I am insisting. Go now and dress."

She sobbed a little while she was dressing, but I told her
I would prefer she conceal that, for her own good. We
arrived with the first act just beginning, and thrilled to-
gether to the magnificent passion of the wife of Mark of
Cornwall for the glorious knight. It was very much like
Ulrica and myself, I reflected. Mark did have a rather
skinny, grizzled look, like Erik to the life; and I knew I
would have made a much more suitable Tristram than the
fat tenor who wheezed through the immortal love songs.

zS6

THE STRANGE DEATH

In the darkness, my hand caressed hers tenderly. Such
music as this of Wagner's was written for true lovers. It
made me almost romantic. And how amusing to wonder
what was at this moment to the husband happening! That
too I would learn. I decided that an opera should be written
about Ulrica and myself; and, if I would brush up on my
vocal, I might even sing the hero's role, myself! Ach, we
were all a little mad, these days.

The next morning, after a most satisfactory night, I
received a message to come to the Ministry for Propaganda
and Public Enlightenment. Pleased at this good fortune,
which no doubt indicated further information or perhaps
even an especial reward to be given me, I hurried around.

"The Minister sent for me," I said to the clerk at the
huge information desk.

"The Minister is not here. Herr Dissel will see you."

I went in to the office of one of Goebbels' confidential
secretaries.

"Ach, Zeit? Seat yourself." He brought out of one of
his drawers a huge folder, which he opened and studied
with much deliberation. He looked up at last. "Here I
have a dossier Herr Reichsminister asked me to bring to
your attention. This is in complete confidence, no? This is
the Dossier Ludwig Zeit."

His tone did not make me feel comfortable. "Well?"

He thumbed over many sheets, and drew forth one.
He read it slowly, and then spoke. "On Monday, July 30,
1934, you spent the night at the apartment of Erik von
Arnheim, with your host away in Geneva. I have here a list
of approximately two hundred other nights you have spent
in that apartment, under similar circumstances, including

OF ADOLF HITLER 287

last night. This is unknown to Erik von Arnheim.
Correct?"

I had often boasted of the excellence of German espion-
age, but never before that moment was I convinced that
there had been understatement, and not exaggeration, in
my words. This was to be faced. Goebbels himself had this
information. It would be most advantageous to be abso-
lutely frank with this man. My own nature is essentially
frank anyhow, unless there is a distinct advantage to be
gained by a necessary evasion. "Yes," I said.

"Good. Frau von Arnheim has borne two sons since
that time. You are the father of those two sons. Correct?"

A somewhat similar reasoning applied with equal force
now; and yet, how could one be sure. I had, of course,
a natural pride in the thought; but what if it were not a
correct thought? There could be no harm, however, in
assuming that a denial was not anticipated. "One can
never be certain," I explained. "I am of that opinion. Yes."

"Frau von Arnheim has offered to divorce her husband,
and marry you. Correct?"

"But this is unthinkable!" I showed great indignation.
"Who can have spread a story so ridiculous?"

He tapped his finger firmly on two other documents
spread under his hand. "Affidavits of the von Arnheim
butler and maid, who overheard it from within the door
o*f the butler's pantry, within the last week. No pressure
was exerted; they are in the service. In the light of these,
correct?"

"Now that you remind me, yes."

" — Which you refused to do," he continued in a blase
voice. "Her husband is now also under detention, by order
of the Reichsminister. Would it not be wise," he held his

288

THE STRANGE DEATH

thumb and the three final fingers against the desk, folded
under, and thumped with his index finger against the dark
red-brown mahogany desk top, "for Frau von Arnheim
to see the Minister herself about her husband, on some
early opportunity — say tomorrow evening, at an address
I give you?"

I studied his face for a long time, before I answered this.
He did not look at me. "But . . . she ... I am not sure
she is a close friend of the Reichsminister's. He knows me;
perhaps she would much prefer to have me discuss. . . ."
But his face did not yield. I leaned over more passionately
toward him. "You are human. She might not even desire
to go. Women have their own particular desires. . . .
Only last night she had said to me that she hated him like
a snake, and would kill him if she ever got her hands on
him."

"She does not like the Minister, no. That is under-
stood, from another dossier." He paused significantly. "Yet
this is different. Would it not be wise for her to come;
and very wise, Herr Zeit, if you make sure she comes!"
It was no query.

My face grew naturally a little white. "But if she will
not go!"

"Is not that for you to make sure of? Ach, I almost
forgot. The Minister told me to tell you that the Leader
had not been troubled with this dossier yet." The secretary
acted as if the matter had been settled. He lit himself a
cigar, and puffed it absently, until at last he observed
with pleasure that he had achieved commendable smoke
rings floating from the tip of his cigar above my head.
I did not feel that I earned halos.

"I am to make her come, then?"

OF ADOLF HITLER

289

"Would it not be wise?"

" — To make her come. A woman is difficult to make to
do anything, no?" I thought reflectively of Herta Fuchs,
and shook my head. It would not do to have Ulrica behave
so. And then a thought came to me. "If she comes, natu-
rally the Leader will not be troubled with this dossier?"

His eyebrows rose. "But naturally. He is very busy, the
Leader."

"She is very dear to me," I said stiffly. "He will not harm
her?"

The secretary's hands opened gently. "Surely you are
not one that believes in libels! This is the Reichsminster
we speak of. Unless she has done something subversive,
naturally not. We both know that."

"And any way I make her come, it will be all right?"

"That is for you to decide. The Minister thinks that
such an interview will be mutually profitable."

I remembered back that so he had gotten rid of Konrad
Fuchs, and so summoned Herta to come to him. And now
Ulrica. It is not easy to contemplate sending one's mistress
to such a man. And yet, surely he might wish only to
question her about her husband, that he might convert
him. There had been talk of this. It was best to regard
it so. And yet it was unusual, in that case, that he had
first had me shown this dossier about myself. But the un-
usual was happening, especially in Germany.

Suddenly I thought of a brilliant idea. I have observed
that, when there is need, such ideas happen naturally to
me. "If Frau von Arnheim were of the opinion that it
was planned to detain me in protective custody, in the
concentration camp where her husband is, or even to take
me before the People's Tribunal, it would be natural for

z 9 o THE STRANGE DEATH

her to wish to talk that over with the Reichsminister,
hein?"

"But naturally."

"I think she will think that, when I talk to her. The
Minister will be pleased?"
"But naturally."
"Tomorrow evening, you said?"

"So. — To this address." He handed it to me on a slip
of paper. "At nine o'clock."
"She will come," I said.

He rose. "Heil Hitler!" His arm snapped forward to
the salute.

"Heil Hitler!"

I walked stiffly out of the room.

This I had not at all anticipated, when the brilliant
idea came to me of arranging for a substitute trip for
von Arnheim instead of the embassy to Rome which he
expected. I have observed that the unanticipated often
comes, especially in Germany. It is wise to make the best
of any such eventuality. I felt that I had risen to the
emergency in a way to be proud of. Goebbels would get
the interview he wished; Ulrica would have the thrill of
saving me from threatened arrest and detention or worse;
so no one would suffer, due to my quick-witted handling
of the situation. I began to understand how well equipped
I was to act in emergencies, no matter their nature. It is
of such stuff that leaders are made.

OF ADOLF HITLER

291

CHAPTER XXI

THE SEED IS SOWN

ATURALLY, Ulrica expected me to dinner that

JL >| night. I went with the full realization that I faced
a difficult task. Great disgrace was in store for me, if once
that dossier were shown to the Leader. The only way to
prevent this was to have Ulrica cooperate in the way
indicated by the Reichsminister's secretary. But she, like
all women, was excessively sentimental; and she might let
her personal feelings interfere with this simple solution,
and thus precipitate the thing I was most anxious to avoid.
So my task was to turn her sentimental nature into my

I almost decided to tell her the exact situation. In a
way, the disgrace would involve both of us; and one might
think that she would do anything within reason to prevent
this. But there comes in your woman's sentimentality
again. She was quite capable of saying nobly, "Let him
expose us! I will be proud to appear before the world as
your lover." But that would be as absurd as her being
willing to divorce Erik and marry me; how could I, in
my magnificently paid position, contemplate surrendering
that position, which would of necessity follow from any
such publicity and scandal? As a matter of fact, if I was
as valuable as a double as I imagined, it seemed more

ally.

THE STRANGE DEATH

probable to me that Goebbels, as well as the Leader, would
see to it that there was no publicity, no scandal; for
their convenience, not for mine.

But, after all, I was on my mettle now. I had said that
I would send her around; it was a test of my persuasive-
ness to see if I could do as I had boasted, and a test of
her love for me to see if she would do as I wished. After
all, she had laughingly told me that the first time she went
to Erik's apartment she never dreamed it was marriage
he had on his mind; was one Reichsminister so different
from another? If the matter did not turn out to her
pleasure, I recalled how frantic the affair of Herta had
made Erik; and this would without doubt make him so
wild against Goebbels, that I could well expect to see the
repulsive Propaganda Minister finally removed, or at least
infinitely demoted. But, after all, that was none of my
business. My responsibility ended when I secured her pres-
ence there. I could count on her woman's wit to conduct
the interview to her entire satisfaction, as well as mine.

My task was to turn her sentimental nature into my
ally. And that would come most easily from her regard-
ing me as in danger. I would not mention his secretary;
I would say that it was Goebbels himself had talked to
me; that would be far stronger. I would say that he him-
self had threatened for me the concentration camp, if not
the People's Tribunal: he could elaborate that as he chose.
My one chance, I would report him as saying, would be
for her to appear as my advocate, and her husband's.

And then, a brilliant idea occurred to me. I need not
urge her to go; in fact, the reverse would be far more
effective — the noble pose, that I would a thousand times
rather be jailed, tortured, beaten, killed, than have her

OF ADOLF HITLER 293

go. Colossal! I could plead with her not to go — that it
would break my heart; that I was insane with jealousy,
as she knew — Ach, it built itself up splendidly, as I
dressed for the dinner and the evening. Yes, such a role
would have all the romantic nobility a woman desires in
her lover. Then she would happily make the supreme sac-
rifice for me, and all would be well.

Nor could this, no matter how it turned out, take
Ulrica too often from me. For, after all, Goebbels already
had his nights that he must give to Herta; and surely he
was expected home every so often; the whole world of
cinema and stage actresses, singers and performers of every
kind, came before him, and the concentration camps were
huge, and Germany did not lack its quota of attractive
wives. Ach, I need not even bother about this. Altogether,
the thing seemed to be working out to the complete satis-
faction of all of us.

As I walked around to the von Arnheim apartment, I
began to feel more and more sorry for myself. . . . threat-
ened with imprisonment, torture, perhaps death, even
before tomorrow's sunset. I had been given only this one
farewell night. Well, like a man I could stand it — like a
man I would stand it! Of such stuff heroes are made. I
doubted if the Leader himself could have faced such an
ordeal so magnificently. There was a tear in my eye as
I left the elevator and crossed the hall to press the button
to her apartment. So it was that I had always prepared
myself to take the Leader's place — by throwing myself
heart and soul into the role. And I knew that I would
not fail this night.

My face was pale, as I greeted Ulrica. I bent stiffly and
kissed her warm, soft little fingers, and then I clasped her

294

THE STRANGE DEATH

wildly to my bosom. My lips burned against hers. And
then I pushed her away, and did not meet her eyes.

"Ach, but it is marvelous to see you, darling! Did you
get any more news for me of poor Erik?"

"I have some news, yes." I finished my glass of sherry
and bitters before speaking further. "I was summoned in
to see the Propaganda Minister today."

"Good! He admitted that he did it? Ach, but why!
In God's name, why!"

I shrugged. "He admits nothing. — That he knew of it
in advance, yes. Something about subversive talk — that
was all he would say. By Erik and me." I let it fall as
casually as if she knew it all the time.

" — And you! What do you mean, Little Adolf!"

"Ach, but I did not mean to tell that part! He admits
only that he knows of it; and he will do what he can, as
soon as he can, he says."

"But — subversive — about what! — You!"

I spoke too rapidly to be coherent. "Something about
the Sudeten," I said. "There can be nothing to what he
says. Let us forget it."

"But — you! You mean that the fool claims that you are
in this, too!"

"There is the butler, dear, announcing dinner. Do not
worry; there is nothing to worry about. I see him to-
morrow. We will talk of this later."

Throughout dinner I could see how dreadfully worried
she was. But the butler was in and out, as if he had been
tipped off in advance to prevent confidences. It was not
until we had repaired to the living room for coffee and
liqueurs that she had a chance to question me again.

She leaned tensely toward me. "Adolf, you've got to

OF ADOLF HITLER

29s

talk to me! You're to see him tomorrow, you say? You
can't mean that he seriously threatens he's going to arrest
you!"

"My dear, I did not mean for you to guess. But, if you
must know, yes. It may be," I spoke very slowly, and my
voice was aimed inward, as one speaking into a cave with-
out a back wall, "that this will be the last night I can be
here with you. He said something about one last night.
For the one thing he mentioned I told him 'No' to, right
away."

"A plot against the Leader, I'll bet! You are to turn
against him?" Her eyes gleamed strangely.

"Ach, no! A million million times, no!"

"But you're talking in riddles! What was this one thing
he mentioned?"

"Ach, it is unthinkable. What he indicated was, there
was talk . . . er, about the Sudeten, that concerned Erik
alone, that was regarded as subversive; and something
more than this, that was overheard by some servant here
and reported, that was said by me as well as by him,
before you. I told him that never in my life had I dreamed
of other than complete loyalty to him; that it was a lie;
that I had not spoken before you; and that I would never
permit you to visit him, as he requested. So, I ended it.
I see him tomorrow. We will know, then."

Ulrica's face went as white as the square of linen
clenched in her hand. "It was about Herta it was," she
said, with gasping violence. "Sudeten, ach! It was Herta,
wasn't it?"

"Yes," as if wrenched from me. "Yes, darling. I don't
see how you knew."

2 9 6 THE STRANGE DEATH

"And he claims you too said what Erik said — about
hounding him out of Germany!"

"And something about strangling with bare hands, also.
Yes. I received the impression that it was so reported.
Servants even no one can trust! I did not say it. Let it
be. Either I convince him, or I fail. I can only do my
best."

"But I can convince him! When he hears my account
of the — Why, you defended him, Little Adolf; I was
furious with you, for that. Of course, I'll shield Erik as
much as I can; and he should be hounded out of the
Reich." She dropped her voice to a whisper, a frightened
glance studying the empty room, as if she expected eaves-
droppers everywhere. "But — you. ... I will not let him
make a martyr out of you, for what Erik said — something
you didn't agree with, at all!"

"No," I insisted, face paler than ever. "I will not permit
it. No. You must not. I forbid you to leave the house
tomorrow night, and under no circumstances to go near
the room in the Nonpareil Hotel he designated." I stared
at her grimly. "I have not forgotten what happened to
Herta, when she visited him. You, never!"

It was then that Ulrica saw with terrible swiftness that
she too was trapped. I cannot guess how far beyond she
saw in that first chasmed second, before her mind told
her that what her heart saw could not be true. "That,"
she said. She shuddered. There was a long silence. "No.
Not that. Anything but that. I have promised you. . . .
Oh, the dreadful, dreadful swine! I will kill him, first! I
will kill myself first!"

"And would that help any of us?" I asked sadly. But
the idea was planted, I told myself jubilantly. Let it have

OF ADOLF HITLER

time to work. "It is only my dreadful fear, darling; I'm
sure of that." I spoke swiftly. "He spoke only of an inter-
view, to reconstruct what these servants reported. But I
forbade it, absolutely. I can at least meet my fate like a
Nordic and a soldier!" Bravery such as my face glowed
with deserved at least the Iron Cross with the gold leaves.

She stared at me as if not seeing me. "I will kill myself,
before I will do that. — That he should be allowed to live!"

"Konrad is in one of his concentration camps," I said
slowly, "and Erik, and Herta spoke of those photographs
of beatings, and tortures, and corpses not good to see. But
think of what she went through! No, it is unthinkable.
Tomorrow, I see him. I have some power of words." I said
it sadly. "He knows how much I mean to the Leader. I
will face it alone. I forbid you to see him, even to talk to
him!"

"I will see him." Her voice was the lowest string on
the violin, lost in a mist, moaning all by itself. "Tell him
so. I will never let you suffer so. And, after, I will kill
myself."

"It is forgotten," I said firmly. "I have already burned
the slip that was handed me." I let my hand slip toward
my hip pocket.

"Give it to me," she insisted.

"I have lost it."

"Give it to me!"

I pulled it forth. "But you must burn it, before me!"

"I will see him," she said, her voice serene. I could see
the immense love in her heart burning out of her shadowed
eyes. It was a beautiful sight to see.

I will grant that there was a rather grisly macabre
pleasure in the evening and the night that followed. It was

298

THE STRANGE DEATH

unthinkable that he should have any such power; but,
still, the power was his, and it certainly was the part of
wisdom to harness it, rather than to oppose it. So the
Leader himself had told me. And, besides, it was not so
much she was called on to do. In the old days, when she
herself worked at the Schwarz Anser, she would not even
have minded what was asked of her. Amazing, how
romantic, how sentimental, a woman in love can become!
And romance, I have observed, at times makes facing
the realities of life in a factual manner rather difficult.

At least, my plan about Erik had succeeded with bril-
liance; how was I to guess that Goebbels would then have
his different ideas? Over all my protests, Ulrica remained
determined. So he would not be disappointed. The greatest
gainer beyond doubt would be myself. It would be more
than unfortunate if that dossier were ever placed on the
Leader's desk; toward such things he is very unsympa-
thetic, especially where they concern men high in the
Party. His trust in me meant much to me; this would be
forfeited entirely if he ever read that dossier. It was un-
thinkable that I should face the loss of this most excellent
salary I was receiving, and the work I had come to enjoy
more and more, and even run the risk of actual imprison-
ment and torture and the Tribunal and Goring's ax: for
these were usual things to happen in Germany, though so
far I had run no risk of them. And all for the most natural
actions in the world, merely responding to a love which
was mutual and beyond all blame. All great loves had
been so.

And now, I would be freed of that danger completely.
Erik would have his lot lightened. Ulrica would at most
suffer a momentary embarrassment. The Reichsminister

OF ADOLF HITLER

would not go unsatisfied. No one would suffer, and all
would be set right at last.

In the dawn, and the night had been more tender than
any we had ever had, she held me close for a long time,
staring into my eyes. "I wish you would come again to-
night for dinner," she said quietly. "The hour will be
nine o'clock, at the Nonpareil. The . . . interview . . .
cannot take long. I think I will be back before midnight.
If not, well, you know how to leave this early, or earlier.
I would like to know that you are here. I love you. You
only."

"I will be here, darling," I assured her proudly. It might
be a boring evening; but one owes something to a devoted
woman's whim. There were several of the new books I had
been promising myself a chance to read, and this would
be admirable for that purpose.

And so I was back for dinner, and at a quarter to nine
I saw her leave. Her face was exquisitely made up, more
so than usual. So must Herta have gone to him, that first
night. Strange things happen in Germany. And power is
power. . . .

The time passed far more delightfully than I had antici-
pated. A library to roam through, the new books to
browse into and one to read, excellent cigars and cigarettes
and Napoleon brandy from Erik's own stock. . . .

I was rather startled when I heard the hall door clicking
open to see from my wristwatch that it was twenty after
midnight already. How time passes, I have observed! I
rose to my feet, my eyes all welcome, my arms out-
stretched, my voice tender. "Ah, darling! So long it has
seemed!"

She let her cloak slip unheeded to the floor. "Oh," she

3 oo THE STRANGE DEATH

said. She let me clasp her to my heart, and my lips fasten
to hers. She had not repaired her makeup, and her lips
were not warm. It is difficult to be tender to a woman who
neglects her appearance so. But the situation was unusual,
I had to admit to myself.

She pushed me away finally, and walked over and stared
at a large chair before sitting in it. "You might give me
a brandy," she said.

I poured one for each of us. I lifted my glass to toast
her. She sipped her drink without responding to my toast.

"You saw him?"

"You need not worry, now." It is strange how a voice
can have weight, like lead, to the ears. "I saw him. You
will not be arrested."

"But that is wonderful, darling! You convinced him?
He was not . . . annoying, was he? As with Herta?"

"He was not annoying. — You would be arrested to-
morrow, he said, if I was not nice to him. — Taken before
the Tribunal. I was Frau Germania, he said; and so he
must know me better. I told him I would kill myself. He
said, it makes what difference? But he promised not to jail
you. So I am here."

"Why, Ulrica darling, you can't mean that he actually
demanded the surrender of your virtue as the price of not
imprisoning me! Darling, I forbade it! I ordered you not
to go!"

"Yes. You ordered me not to go. It happened that I
loved you. I sometimes wonder why. Women are made
so. No — " As I came close to her, my eyes tender and
warm, my arms welcoming, "do not touch me tonight.
Not ever again — tonight." She added the last word hur-

OF ADOLF HITLER 301

riedly. "I am soiled, Little Adolf. — For you. No. Give me
another brandy."

The whimsical nature of woman is something I shall
never cease to marvel over. That ridiculous pose she kept
up the rest of the evening; nothing could make her alter
it. I did my best to explain that all that she had done
she had done for love of me; like Herta's sacrifice. And,
unlike Herta's, it had succeeded; I was free, I would not
be arrested, and she had done this. I was so insane with
fury, with jealousy, I told her, I would go right out now
and shoot him down like a dog, if she would let me.
— Why think of him again, she said. So it was that all she
said was irrational.

But one thing was clear: she had made up her mind, for
this night, that I was not to come near her. I told her it
was all inconsiderate. She sent me home soon after three
o'clock, never having let me come nearer her than the
moment she returned.

"But I'll see you tomorrow?" I insisted.

"There is no doubt of that." She smiled, but there was
a strange quality in her smile that was disturbing. "Yes,
you will see me tomorrow."

Well, can one argue with a woman's whims? I was as
tender as was possible, yet all availed nothing. She kissed
me goodbye, and her lips were not icy now, but warm;
and yet she made me leave. She let me out of the side
door herself. It was a very icy night for April, and I
could see my breath in the light of the street lamps when
I paused to smoke a fresh cigarette before entering the
Chancellery. I remember my last thought, before drowsing
off to sleep, was how whimsical a woman could be, and
how inconsiderate of what a man desired.

3 02 THE STRANGE DEATH

I was immensely shocked, reading the morning paper,
to see her picture on its front page, and only then did I
see the headlines above it:

FRAU GERMANIA DIES SUDDENLY

DURING ABSENCE OF HUSBAND

Ulrica Diehm, Former Cafe Singer, Married to Reichsminister
von Arnheim, Loses Life in Unusual Accident

The story said that she had been cleaning a pistol, due to
her fear of burglars, during the absence of her husband,
when it exploded. I knew that there was more in the
story than this. There was a letter in my box, delivered,
I found out later, by her sympathetic maid. It had twelve
words inside:

I gave you a promise. You will understand. I love you forever.

U.

To this day, I cannot be sure whether it was Herr
Goebbels himself who met her at the Nonpareil, or the
secretary who had talked to me, or someone else imper-
sonating the Reichsminister. It is such uncertainties, I
have observed, that keep life interesting. I determined to
find out from Herr Goebbels, if he was ever in the right
mood. But he was not often in the right mood, I have
observed.

OF ADOLF HITLER 303

CHAPTER XXII

THE TIDE FLOWS EAST

THE unfortunate suicide of Ulrica von Arnheim came
at a most inopportune time for me. For this was the
frantic spring of 1938 when the Leader's plans were
maturing so magnificently. The Anschluss was a fact, the
re-acquisition of the Sudeten was coming closer and closer.
There were demands on me, naturally, there were demands
on all of us, calling for our most undisturbed application
to the cause of the Party and the Fatherland; and no true
German had a right to add to our difficulties at a time like
this. Most of all, at such a time, a man needs such relaxa-
tion as a night with Ulrica could afford. And here, at the
very moment when I had shrewdly arranged to have our
relationship made permanent, with Erik completely out
of the way in protective custody, some woman's whim of
hers, some mere personal dislike, had wrecked all of my
careful planning. Naturally, a man wants a woman, and
not a corpse. The incident, I reflected a little sadly, had
been a touchstone of how deep her affection for me really
went. She was not capable of a continuing sacrifice for
love. Well, all I could do now was to forgive her. Women
are as they are made, and the cool keen wind of logic
rarely blows through their overpersonalized minds.

The Reichsminister for Propaganda and Public Enlight-
enment took charge of the funeral himself, which I

3 o4 THE STRANGE DEATH

thought was extremely considerate of him. Yet was she
not officially Frau Germania, whose untimely accidental
death had shocked all the Reich? I had to admire the im-
pressive ceremonies he planned for the occasion, as an
inspiration to all other German women to rise as high in
the esteem of the Reich. As we two rode back together
from the ceremonies, I told him so. He said he was sin-
cerely grateful for my appreciation.

"She was a very beautiful woman," I said slowly. "She
deserved such a funeral."

"Admirable," he said, eyeing me slyly. "I wish I had
known her better."

It was difficult to say what I had to say next. "On one
occasion, in your office, I was shown a certain dossier about
myself, by one of your secretaries. Purely personal. That is
all forgotten, I trust?"

"But of course, Little Adolf! After all, your offense, if
it be called such, was merely a commendable personal
interest in a pair of pretty legs; a feeling any of us might
have shared. There was nothing in the slightest degree
savoring of disloyalty to the Leader, the Party, or to me.
I will be frank, I cannot say as much about von Arnheim
and his wife, who certainly took a subversive attitude
toward the welfare of Germany in the matter growing out
of the imprisonment of Konrad Fuchs. I have been assured
that she expressed opinions quite as disloyal as her hus-
band; and, if that's so, perhaps she's luckier off as it is.
But our problem now is the husband. If this imprisonment
can bring him to his senses, we can use him still. If not,
well — accidents happen." He smiled again, and I was glad
that the smile was not directed against me.

Within a week, it was the Leader himself who brought

OF ADOLF HITLER 305

up the matter of von Arnheim. It was Ribbentrop,
Goebbels, and I that he had in conference late in April.
"Well, we are moving," he said, half glumly. "We've
promised personal protection to the Sudetens, and sug-
gested autonomy for them. We've got Premier Hodza
squawking that he doesn't want any foreign interference;
he says it is as absurd as if he were to suggest autonomy
for 86th Street, New York City, where the Czechs live
and have their shops. France has blustered that she will
march if Czechoslovakia is invaded; Litvinov has said that
Russia will move, if France moves first. Mere fly-buzzing,
isn't it?"

"Wasps, pretending to be hornets," said Ribbentrop
smilingly. "And Chamberlain has brayed out that, if there
is a war, it may not be possible to localize it. But that
means only that he is afraid of bombing raids over
London."

"And Henlein has agreed to announce his Karlsbad
demands, which they cannot accept — full autonomy for
the Germans in the Sudeten, as full Nazis; and a demand
that they accept us as protector, instead of Paris, Moscow
and foggy London."

"They will have to, sooner or later," said the Leader
seriously. "Now, next month, we will have a plebiscite.
But opinion is not quite free there; there might be an
anti-Nazi majority. So, a little rioting, during the voting
— and a swift mobilization for a Blitzkrieg* which will
win the matter for us, unless the Czechs mobilize in time."

"Goring wants to fight anyhow," pointed out Goebbels.

"Why fight, when it is ours without fighting?" I asked.

"Admirable, Little Adolf! But I tell you I need von

* Lightning-war.

5 o6 THE STRANGE DEATH

Arnheim again. He can speak these bastard foreign lan-
guages; thank God I never wasted my brain learning any-
thing but good German! And he has a brain. Either he is
straightened out by now, or he might just as well go before
the Tribunal."

Goebbels promised to do his best, and gave orders to
have von Arnheim brought up from Brandenburg where
he was being detained. Moreover, he asked me to have a
preliminary talk with him, and sound out the precise
present state of his attitude toward Goebbels and the
government. "If he's too bitter, well, nothing but the
Tribunal. A man cannot let personal antipathies enter
into his duty to the Party and the Reich." He beamed
complacently. "You can expect him to be annoyed about
his wife, Little Adolf; God knows what sort of wild stories
he has heard, which may involve you, or me, or even both
of us. Well, it was an accident, no? You stick to that.
With him away, she developed an anxiety neurosis about
burglars, hein?"

"I'll do more, Herr Reichsminister," I said, realizing
how I could gain favor with him. "It's always best to meet
an issue fairly, no? He is bound to hear rumors, sooner or
later; about me, at least; and perhaps about you. When
your office had that immense dossier on me and Ulrica,
how could he know nothing?"

Goebbels shrugged. "The whole world knows every
detail of an adultery; the husband never suspects, unless
he is sent an engraved invitation to the bedding. But he
will hear, now, since you practically moved into his apart-
ment the moment he disappeared."

"All that I will admit," I said smilingly. "It was all to
protect her, no? And an effort to scheme his release, en-

OF ADOLF HITLER 307

tirely loyal to him. He will believe me, because he wants
to. But I have more than that in mind. What went on in
life will not bother him so much now, as what caused her
death. There will be rumors. We want no suspicion about
that last night, no? And so, I tell him it is absolutely a
lie that she went out and saw you or anyone else that
night; that I stayed with her until almost three o'clock,
every minute, talking over every possible means of getting
him free; and then went home, and the accident happened
within half an hour. "Will it do the work, you think?"

"An admirable alibi, Little Adolf," he smiled. "Make it
satisfy him. If not, there is always the People's Tribunal.
Probe out every inch of his soul, too; we have no room
for traitors to me in the Party."

"I'll do it, Herr Reichsminister," I said proudly. "I have
done some espionage work already; it is a form of Party
work I especially like. I'll try to bring him to a more
reasonable attitude of mind toward the Herta Fuchs matter
too. After all, I myself interviewed her one night; and I
found her so subversive, so unsympathetic, that I came to
the conclusion that whatever you had done to her was no
doubt deserved discipline."

He nodded. "After all," he smiled, "what is a woman
for? Well, tomorrow you see von Arnheim."

He showed me, before I left, the headlines that had just
come in from the Sudeten Party papers:

SAVAGE HORSEWHIPPING OF SUDETEN
DEPUTY BY BESTIAL CZECH

and tapped the paper with firm fingers, his eyes small and
beady. "For that, we proceed. It is the last straw."

I read into the story and looked up at him in astonish-

308

THE STRANGE DEATH

merit. "But this case was in the morning papers! It is the
case of the Deputy who insulted the government officer,
grossly, while drunk, and was merely slapped for it!"

Goebbels shrugged. "Not in history, after my Propa-
ganda representatives handled the story so. History, Little
Adolf, is what we write, and men believe. The chief
error is to let the mere facts influence you. The welfare
of the Reich must always be the prime consideration."

This was so obvious that I nodded agreement and left
him.

For all that von Arnheim was still in custody, the way
was smoothed for a frank talk between us, by the with-
drawal of all guards from the warden's room in the Berlin
military prison where he had been brought. When they
marched him in, the first moment I did not recognize him,
so old and white and worn he looked.

"Ach, dear friend," I said to him, "how well you are
looking!"

He took my hand, but his greeting was broken by a
grinding, racking cough that seemed to shudder to the
very depths of his frame. All during our talk this cough
came as a macabre punctuation. It spoke of death hanging
close over him, unless his case deserved that we do some-
thing for him.

"How did they treat you, Erik?" I inquired.

"Ulrica," he interrupted me at once. "What really hap-
pened? I know nothing, except that she is dead, and of her
funeral, where Goebbels spoke." His eyes looked starved
for what I had to say.

"I will tell you everything," I said to him frankly.
"For I alone know. First of all, there are vile rumors afloat
— as about everything in Germany. You know how a

OF ADOLF HITLER

censorship makes people suspect every story that is printed,
and manufacture the most absurd and exaggerated ac-
counts, even when the simple truth has been told. It was
a dreadful accident, of course. But many things called
accidents happen in Germany; and so the sensation-mad
mind leaped to the conclusion that this was like that, too.
"What did they do, in this case? Well, word of the story
Herta Fuchs has told too widely had spread around as
gossip; so what more simple to claim that it was Ulrica
who had been visiting Goebbels, and was his mistress, in-
stead of her sister!"

"But that is absurd," he worried. "She herself told it all
to Ulrica. We know the facts. Had she even seen
Goebbels?"

"That is the silliest part of it," I continued mournfully.
"She had me try to arrange it; but he refused to see her!
Too busy, I suppose, with this Sudeten matter keeping all
of us so busy that there is not time even for sleep. — He
would see her as soon as he could squeeze in half an hour,
he told me to tell her; she had to be content with that.
It was that we talked about, that last night; there must
be some way, we knew, that she could get to him, or
Goring, or even the Leader himself. We would have ar-
ranged it, somehow, sooner or later; and then — this ghastly
accident."

"You think it was really an accident?" His eyes probed
my face.

"What else could it have been? She was Frau Germania,
remember, beloved by everyone in Germany. She had no
enemy. When I left her that night, she was discouraged,
yes; but there was hope ahead. She was nervous, yes, from
what had happened to you, to Konrad. I should have spent

3 io THE STRANGE DEATH

the night there," I said mournfully. "I did, the first two
nights after you disappeared, she was so dreadfully
nervous." Suddenly it came to me, how brilliant to tell
this much of the truth! "She herself half suggested it,
that third night; but I had to appear for the Leader in a
procession the next day, and I was too selfish. If I had
stayed, she might never have tinkered trying to load that
pistol, and would be alive today."

"You were my friend, throughout it all," he said, deeply
moved by the simple story of those days. "And I, all I
could hear was that she had been buried. "Well, that is over.
She died," he said it sorrowfully, "because I was not there
to protect her. I was not there to protect her, because I
raised my voice. This you do not know, Little Adolf." He
stared at me earnestly. "I know I may trust you to the
end. My butler reports to the Gestapo — I found proof of
it, one day. I went to him and told him what I had dis-
covered, and said I'd rather have a spy I was sure of, than
one who was uncertain. Who in Germany is not a spy,
these days? And so, that night, when we were talking
about Herta and what had happened to her, I raised my
voice, in some loose talk about what I intended to do;
and so . . . Brandenburg."

"It was loose talk, then? You mean it, my friend? You
did not mean all you said then?" I watched him earnestly.
This would be agreeable music to Goebbels' ear! And,
much as I detested him, he still meant power. As long as
he had that dossier about me, there was much wisdom in
loyalty to him.

"No. I've had time to think things over. There was one
man responsible for what happened to me. I will kill that
man, yet."

OF ADOLF HITLER

3"

I kept my face rigid; but my heart jumped. Ach God,
was it possible he knew what 7 had done — or even sus-
pected it? In that case, I must certainly report to Goebbels
that he was entirely subversive and intransigent. But I
kept my voice steady, and found out it was not I. It was
not for four months that I found out what man he really
meant; and he paid it back with death. But I will admit
then a most uncomfortable moment. I spoke: "You cannot
mean Herr Goebbels!"

"No, not the Tainted One,* not the negroid Nordic
dwarf, as his Nordic scientists have classified him. Not he.
It is I myself, for talking too loosely and too loud. Each
man kills himself in the end, by some intemperance, or
some carelessness, or by letting the worn engine slip one
cog. Not soon, though. Though, if I have much more of
this imprisonment . . ."
"In confidence, dear friend, how did they treat you?"
He shrugged. "I am alive. Brandenburg is not as bad
as Orienburg; they all say that, dear friend. But it is bad
enough. How can words describe it? To eat slop that pigs
would vomit at. Breakfast, each day we survived, dry
bread and a cup of chicory. But even Germany has its
coffee ration. So. Lunch, some slop called soup. Dinner, a
bite of condemned sausage, or a little square of mouldy
cheese or salted fish, usually spoiled. Horsemeat would
have been a treat. Infinite filth. . . . Burlap bags filled
with straw to he on. Lice, bedbugs. . . . Three times a
day, let out in squads to the filthy hall that was the latrine,
with a gross guard shrieking out, 'Quick, you bastards!
Three minutes to defecate, one minute to urinate!' — and
then one minute more each to dump his pot, flush it out,

* So many of the Ministry referred in private to Goebbels.

3 i2 THE STRANGE DEATH

fill it with water again. We made our own foul beds.
German gymnastics for an hour — at my age, and well and
sick beaten to do everything in perfect rhythm! We were
made to roll in the dirt, to toughen us. I did not have to
root out the grass with my teeth, as the Jews were re-
quired to do; but I had to suffer while I saw it being done
to them. And one sullen look called forth a steel rod or
a rubber truncheon flailing against the abdomen; or some
gross brute of a jailer, often drunk, having the prisoner
held down while he danced on his abdomen and kidneys
with his heavy heels. I was not beaten; plenty were. I have
seen them carried out to be buried afterward. The Jews
— no indignity too vile to inflict on them: jailers spitting
in their mouths, in their food and drink, or fouling these
worse. . . . And death even to protest — Ach God, Little
Adolf, they are men too! Have we of Germany forgotten
that? They were mistreated without ceasing — forced to
amuse the rest of us — forced to strip and go through the
most ghastly perversions alone and together before us.
— Men, as we are men. Or has this thing made us somehow
less than men? I do not know. Me, I was not beaten. But
my soul was beaten; and I do not know if I would come
out alive, if once again I am returned to that prison."

"Erik, dear friend, what you tell me tears me to the
heart. You know how close I am to the Leader — to all
the Ministry, who woo me to get to the Leader's ear. What
if I pledge you this — that I will risk my freedom, in insist-
ing either that you be turned loose, or that I be jailed too!
What may I say to them your attitude will be, if you are
wholly freed — and it is announced that your arrest was all
a mistake?"

He considered me a long time. "It would save my life,

OF ADOLF HITLER 3I3

of course. Can one have less than all gratitude for that?
As to my attitude, well, why was I jailed? Because hot-
headedly I said a word that should have been left unsaid
against the Minister for Propaganda. ... I am to blame.
If by the Leader's grace I am freed, I will serve the party
as I always have. I can promise no more."

I clasped his hand jubilantly. "Then it is both of us in
jail, from now on, or you free as I am free! Within the
hour, if word of mine can achieve it, you will be brought
before them, and freed! Only, if it is only before
Goebbels," I warned him, "it might be sympathetic if you
said you were convinced that the suggestion that he had
done anything improper to Herta was a gross libel, in-
vented to scandalize the administration."

He shrugged. "I live, if I am free; I will not survive, if
I have to endure that again. I am not so young now. Do
you think I will not watch my words? Besides, he is not
the man really responsible. I will not forget." I shuddered
again, but he spoke on. "One man only visited me in
prison. A Reichswehr captain, who said he knew you. He
sent word for you to be ready; that it would not be long."

My cheeks flushed. "But what did he mean? And who
was he?"

Erik shrugged. "I tell all I know. I thought you would
understand."

I let it pass at this. And so it was that Erik von Arnheim
was restored to the service of the Party and the Reich.
Goebbels told me the very next day that I had again been
of distinct service to the cause; for the Leader was most
anxious to use von Arnheim, in the ticklish negotiations
leading to the joining of the stolen German Sudeten to
the Reich again.

314 THE STRANGE DEATH

"He was surprisingly admirable in his apology," smiled
the little vulture-faced gnome. "He had suffered a com-
plete change of heart, he said. How could he be blamed
for a sudden loss of temper, when he had been misled into
believing that the arrest of Konrad Fuchs was unjustified?
Yet he assured me, he said, that all the stories connecting
me with Herta or his wife were scandalous libels. He only
regretted that I had not been able to see Ulrica and do
more for her; and he pledged me his personal support
henceforth, as well as the undying devotion he had always
given to the Leader, the Party, and the Reich. You did
excellently, Little Adolf. You will be a famous diplomat
yet!"

And so the whole matter ended splendidly for all of
us, except impetuous Ulrica, and one other. But that part
was still hidden in the near future. I did not then realize
that, in releasing von Arnheim, I had indeed taken a step
toward my own world greatness that would have been
unbelievable to me then. But it is so that life's pattern
functions. I have observed that simple devotion to duty,
as witness my actions in this matter, often harvests an
unexpected reward. I have observed, too, that rewards
ultimately must be weighed in more than one set of scales.
But this, too, is life.

Meanwhile, our eyes again were all cast to the east.

OF ADOLF HITLER 315

CHAPTER XXirt

THE FLOOD TIDE RISES

FOUR or five of us stood with the Leader in the ante-
room at Niirnberg at that all-important Party-
Congress of September, 1938. Our car came first; but the
Leader had to have his throat sprayed, as usual, for the
speech to come. Goring, wearing so many medals he looked
as if he were in mail, swaggered in with his party; after
him scuttled Goebbels and the Propaganda representatives.
"Good morning, Shrimp," Goring sneered.
"How goes it, Doubleguts?" smiled Goebbels pleasantly.
Here was the Leader himself, strung tense like a cross-
bow ready to shoot. "Well, my friends, what do we tell
Germany, today?"

"Tell them we apologize for not having gone to war
yet," blustered Goring. "We march tomorrow!"

"Tell them Germany is so powerful, no enemy will face
her," said Goebbels swiftly. "Our maneuvers will be first
east, and then west; and every step adds a foot to the
Reich!"

Von Arnheim smiled. In this tension over the Sudeten
and the foreign policy, ever since he had been released
he had seemed to hover over the leader, as if to shield him
with his wings. "Let's say everything but what we mean,"
he smiled. "Don't remind the world that England is our

3 i* THE STRANGE DEATH

best ally; that Lord Runciman in Prague has urged par-
tition for Czechoslovakia, speaking of 'rectifying' the
frontiers. That's too important to talk about."

Ribbentrop, close beside him, nodded. He felt stronger
with von Arnheim at his side once more. "They're expect-
ing war, Herr Hitler. They've all noticed the coincidence
that it's the month for our maneuvers, with a million and
a half men under arms, and a quarter of a million work-
men strengthening the Siegfried Line. They expect war.
Czechoslovakia's mobilized; but that isn't a good mouth-
ful. France is entrenched in the Maginot Line, and the
reserves called to the colors. The English fleet steamed into
the German Ocean — but what is that but a gesture? War
or peace, it is in your hands to decide, Leader. Germany
wins, either way!"

He considered our faces earnestly, and smiled, like a sun
emerging from behind clouds. He strode out on the
tribune, while assembled Germany rose as one man to the
salute and the hail. His hand won quiet at last. "Ger-
many," his voice thundered, to the vast crowd, to the
world tensely listening beyond, "will kneel to no power on
earth. Heil Hitler!"

It was almost impossible to keep them quiet now; but
he did it. "The German Reich today faces a disgrace that
we should have extirpated many years ago. The thieving
democratic nations are impotent in the face of Germany's
might today. We will not permit the Reich to be plun-
dered further, or raped again! Constant plundering
irritates, and rape grows monotonous. The Judaized 'demo-
cratic' state that preceded our government let itself be
blackmailed for fifteen years; we have ended that forever.
We will no longer let an integral part of the German

OF ADOLF HITLER 317

Reich, the Sudeten, be further violated by the mongrel
democratic hordes of Czechoslovakia!

"My friends," his voice was a trumpet now, "God never
created the three and a half million Germans there to be
plundered, tortured, ravished and outraged by the seven
and a half million Czechs there! We will at once end this
humiliation and oppression, in the name of the superior
Nordic race! This has ceased to be a battle of words; from
now on, it will be war — war to restore a violated right!
With rejuvenated Italy standing beside rejuvenated Ger-
many, there is no power on earth that can stop us! Heil
Hitler!"

During the tense days that followed, I noticed that von
Arnheim hovered over the Leader more than ever, as if
to protect him even more than Bruckner ever had from
some ambiguous danger that menaced. We were at Der
Berghof at Bechtesgaden, all of us, when word came that
Chamberlain himself would fly from Heston aerodrome to
us, to receive instructions from the Leader himself. It was
colossal, summoning the rulers of the world to approach
our throne and receive our will!

As we were going in to the final conference, Erik drew
me aside, and nodded, smiling coldly, toward the man
beside him. "I want you to meet my new aide, Captain
von Wulle, Zeit. He is heart and soul in the fight for a
rejuvenated Germany."

He was a Reichswehr captain, tall, with piercing blue
eyes, and with his cloak still swirled around him. We gave
the salutes, and I spoke formal words of pleasure. Three
times before I had seen this man, and each time after some
threat to the Leader's life. And now, to find him trusted
high in the Party — it was astounding! "A new convert?"

3 i8

THE STRANGE DEATH

I asked. For there are more and more of them; if they are
to remain in Germany, there must be.

"No," smiled Erik, "his work has been more confi-
dential hitherto. Germany's aims are in the open, now."

"Heil Hitler!" I said. It seemed the only answer to any-
thing, in Germany.

In the conference, we stood back and watched the
nervous English merchant receive his orders, and protest
a little, and bow and scrape assent at the end. — All the
Sudeten to be ceded to the Reich, and all other areas with
more than half Germans; plebiscites in all other areas with
German nationals; Czechoslovakia to divorce herself from
England and France as allies, and to be neutralized; and
a forever guarantee by the democratic nations of the recti-
fied frontiers. In the end, the merchant premier thanked
the Leader for his friendliness, and went back, promising
to secure us the consent of France.

We drove back to Berlin, to let Chamberlain and
Daladier and Bonnet convey our will to no-longer-to-be-
feared Czechoslovakia.

In the Chancellery, von Arnheim summed it up for the
Leader. "The rest is simple. They will ask for the Hague
Court; good servant Chamberlain will say, Accept, or a
war of extermination, in which you stand alone! The Pope
will sob that they are mistreated; was he ever less than a
thousand years behind the times? Benes must resign, and
little one-eyed General Sirovy will take his place; and then
good servant Chamberlain will fly back, to say bis work is
done."

"We were entitled to a war," insisted Goring. "We have
not yet had one."

The Leader smiled softly. "Who knows? They give so

OF ADOLF HITLER 319

much, they will give more! He will come back. We will
greet him at Godesberg this time; let him tour Germany
on these errands. And this time, von Arnheim, I give him
a headache! They will give more."
"Bravo, Herr Reichskanzler!"

But I was most interested in watching the occasional
looks that he and Captain von Wulle exchanged. I could
not reconcile myself that von WuIIe was welcomed here
in the Chancellery. I knew enough of agent provocateurs,
and it might be that on these previous occasions he had
been merely testing my loyalty. But it was carrying a test
a long way to shoot at the Leader as part of it. I decided
that a talk with Erik would be of value.

But where was one to secure time for a private talk,
in those mad days and nights? So it was we whirled down
to Godesberg, and we heard how cordially the English
premier was greeted this time. "Practical men like you and
I, Herr Chamberlain," smiled the Leader, "realize that
Czechoslovakia is no nation, but a mongrel buffer state
created by the Versailles Treaty, to cripple Germany for-
ever; and we, in our manhood, are thwarting that mur-
derous intention. You have brought with you the full
acceptance of the government at Prague? Good! And now,
to explain my terms a little clearer, — " And then he leaned
forward, and said what he and Ribbentrop and von
Arnheim had decided: a thousand miles more of territory
than asked before; an eight day limit for unaccepting
Czechs to move out of these reunited parts of the Reich;
and a surrender of all munitions, rolling stock, radio and
utility services, foods, cattle, raw materials, freight instal-
lations, everything, in the surrendered areas.

320 THE STRANGE DEATH

The Englishman turned very white when the Leader
had ended. "But if they say no — "

"Then, we march! Good day, my good friend!" His
face beamed with stern kindness. "You might say that this
is the last German territorial design on Europe." It was
only after Chamberlain left that we all sat around and
laughed till our bellies ached at this joke.

"This time," said Goring, "maybe we get our war, no?"

"We would have a war," said von Arnheim coldly, "if
We had no air fleet. It will come closer, this time. We will
mobilize, and drink beer; England will stay up all night
digging trenches against bombing in every park, every
man's little garden."

"We will mobilize, and dine at the nightclubs; England
will drink her afternoon tea in gasmasks. There will be
no war."

It was the 26th, when the Leader made his magnificent
speech at the Sports Palace. We were an army, now, every
one of us in full uniform. Actual fighting had broken out
in Habersparirk, in the Sudeten, with more than a thou-
sand fighting on each side. France had started to yield;
then Russia had said her Communist word, that she
marched if France did, and France vacillated again. But
the English papers hailed Hitler as the greatest German
of all times.

I handed him, as he was about to enter for this great
speech, this English editorial translated by me, and also a
message from President Roosevelt translated by me. All
he said was that endless talk would always prevent wars.
If it was endless, yes; but how boring! "You may ignore
both of them, Herr Hitler," I suggested.

He smiled, and patted my shoulder. One by one he let

OF ADOLF HITLER

the others enter first, to receive tremendous ovations. . . .
Goring, Ribbentrop, even waspish little Goebbels. Then
came Prince August Wilhelm, son of the old Kaiser, in a
Nazi Reichswehr uniform, giving the Nazi salute and the
"Heil Hitler!" Did the world seek to see the foul old order
changed, and the humble soul of the people ruling? Look
in every land on earth, but most in the greatest of all,
the German Reich! A wandering Austrian artist, a
Bavarian corporal, the most powerful man on earth! So
it is today.

The Leader entered. He turned without words, and his
hand leapt upward to the great legend over the platform:

SUDETEN GERMANS, WE WILL NEVER DESERT YOU!

It was a magnificent oration in itself. He hushed them
tensely. "My friends, it is not a Leader or a man who
speaks, but the entire German people! We despise all the
democracies, for they are impotent while thousands are
massacred. With Italy standing man to man at our side,
and every German united as one, there is but one answer
to be made: Germany's every demand must be granted!
President Roosevelt has again asked us to talk and talk
and talk and talk and talk. We have spoken our final word.
Will it be peace, or war? Let Czechoslovakia decide! We
are ready, and will win in either eventuality! Heil Hitler!"

On the morning of the 28th, the capital of the world
was clearly the Chancellery dominating the Wilhelm-
-strasse. Yet already surveyors were swarming all along the
Voss Strasse and the two adjoining streets, setting stakes
for the demolitions that would lead to the new Chan-
cellery, the greatest building in the world. So Germany

322 THE STRANGE DEATH

builds ever the future while the present is still being made.

Here the Leader, von Ribbentrop, and von Arnheim
received the supplications of the entire world, and
answered them as was their imperial will. All night long
the divisions had passed through the capital, aimed for the
Siegfried line on the western Rhine frontier, or for the
little ant's nest of Czechoslovakia that we might have to
smash forever tomorrow. All day long our gigantic Sieg-
frieds strode in and out — waddling old Field Marshal
Goring, General Keitel, General Brauchitsch, Admiral
Raedar, army lords and navy lords.

Von Arnheim tossed a dispatch over before the Leader,
eyes intent on Goring's plan for immediate occupation of
all Czechoslovakia. "England sees that every man does her
duty," he chuckled. "Chamberlain has just announced that
Czechoslovakia is too insignificant for England to fight
over!"

"Bravo! Heil Hitler!"

Here was the Italian ambassador, with a desperate plea
from II Duce. The Leader had at first named October ist
for the attack; he had advanced this to today. Would he
not grant the obstinate Czechs twenty-four hours more!

The Leader looked up at me, with a tired wink. He
turned to the interpreter. "Tell his Excellency I am always
at his service. It will be so."

The English ambassador, the French ambassador, came
with their desperate pleas: the democracies offering any-
thing to prevent the war. The Leader gave them what they
were entitled to, no more.

At last he leaned back happily, with a complacent smile
at the group of us. "Now it is time for my little circus to
begin. The trained seals will jump through the hoops, no?

OF ADOLF HITLER 323

Ribbentrop, take Zeit in with you. He understands that
damned English language. If you two want to hear Cham-
berlain blubber when my message reaches him . . ."

We two hurried into an anteroom, where a radio was
blaring out the session of the House of Commons in Lon-
don. Yes, this was Chamberlain's voice coming over. I had
heard him talk at Berchtesgaden, the first time we gave
him an audition; and again at Godesberg, where he was
so much chummier and so aghast at what the Leader
had said. Blah — blah — blah . . . world catastrophe . . .
agreement in principle already established. . . . Wouldn't
Mussolini restrain the Reichskanzler. . . . And then, a
sudden abrupt hush. The voice of the announcer coming
over: "The Prime Minister has just been handed a memo-
randum by Sir John Simon ... a letter." And now again
Chamberlain's voice: "I have one thing more to inform
the House. I have just been notified by the Fiihrer that
he has invited to meet him tomorrow morning in Munich
Signor Mussolini, M. Daladier and myself. Signor Musso-
lini has signified his acceptance, and beyond question M.
Daladier will do so, too. Gentlemen, I need not tell you
what my answer will be: I will go to see what one last
effort can do to preserve the peace of the world!" As his
voice came over the air, it was choked with sobs. The
announcer's voice picked up the story. . . . Chamberlain
sitting down, tears streaming down his face. . . . "Wild
cheers, shouts, weeping, waving of paper from the staid
M. P.'s: a scene unprecedented in the House of Com-
mons. . . . Such is a democracy's reaction to any chance
to avoid a war they have pledged themselves to fight!
Ribbentrop smiled brilliantly at me. "Go tell the Leader

THE STRANGE DEATH

they are weeping with rapture that Hitler mercifully gives
the world one day more of peace! Heil Hitler!"

The Leader heard me with a tense smile on his strained
face. "Good, good," he applauded. "They will learn. Von
Arnheim," turning swiftly to the minister hovering for-
ever so close above him, "send word to Munich that no
envoy of any sort from Czechoslovakia will be allowed to
near our conference hall, until we are ready for them.
This is not their business, yet! Remind them," his nostrils
sneered, "that this is today their great holiday, Marsaryk
Day; warn them not to eat too much of the goose, for
we will share the meal tomorrow. And then back swiftly,
for word to the Italian ambassador. . . ." *'

Just as we had finished our mad preparations for the
ride down to Munich, we were called in to hear Prague o.n
the air. "Another sell-out," was the burden of the whole
broadcast.

"So it is, when one deals with democracies," smiled
Hitler.

Naturally we had to leave in the early afternoon, to
have dinner as desired at the Braune Haus. For the night,
the Leader's party, all the members of the cabinet and
their immediate suites, would of course be at the Conti-
nental. The Leader would have the royal suite of course;
Von Ribbentrop, von Arnheim, and the rest of the Foreign
Office group would be on the same floor; Goring and the
army authorities and Goebbels and the Propaganda repre-
sentatives on the floor above; and so on up. The rank and
file could eat at the Cafe Heck in the Ludwigstrasse, and
sleep at the Alpine and the Greater Bavaria Hotels. All
was planned, as the fleet of cars drew up before the Chan-

OF ADOLF HITLER

3*5

cellery, the cavalcade that was to move the capital of the
world from Berlin to Munich for one day-
Just as I was about to step into the fourth car, where
the Leader sat tensely with Ribbentrop, the Italian am-
bassador gesticulating through the car window at him, the
Leader snapped his fingers at me. "Heil Hitler! Herr Zeit,
take at once this memorandum to von Arnheim — the
ninth car. And hurry back!"
"Heil Hitler!"

This car I found where the fleet of cars turned beside
the building into the broad avenue. "Heil Hitler! Ach,
Erik, for you! The Leader says — "

"Heil Hitler! Herr Zeit," he spoke swiftly, "you know
Captain von Wulle, my aide. This is Herr Klass. He has
just returned fromvSPeru. But thanks. . . ." His eyes fell
to perusal of the memorandum.

"Heil Hitler!" I raced back to the Leader's car. But
my eyes were troubled. Captain von Wulle smoked his
cigarette in his left hand. It reminded me too much of
times when I had seen him before. . . . That midnight
visit when I was recovering from the poisoning taken in-
stead of the Leader ... in the fog that second time I
met him, as I came out at dawn from the von Arnheim
apartment ... on the landing in the Kaisferhof, when
the shot was fired that had missed the Leader. . . . And
this Klass, I did not like his nose. But it was of course
impossible. . . .

The Leader had the door open for me, when I returned
at top speed. Von Ribbentrop, the Italian ambassador,
were gone. "Quick please, my friend," he smiled at me.
His voice trumpeted to the marshal of the cavalcade:
"Forward, to Germany triumphant! Heil Hitler!"

THE STRANGE DEATH

"Forward! Heil Hitler!"
"Forward! Heil Hitler!"

So it was flung forward, man to man, to the chauffeur
of the foremost car. The motors of all of them were alive.
The chauffeur of the first car gave the Nazi automobile
salute: "Honk bonk-hoakl" This was recognized as the
mechanized "Heil Hitler!" the length and breadth of the
Reich. Each car in line responded: "Honk honk-hoakl"
like a vast flock of patriotic geese.

The traffic officers screamed "Heil Hitler!" Everyone
lined along the avenue, the massed clerks and underlings
on the Chancellery steps, with hearts broken because they,
too, could not go along, all screamed "Heil Hitler!" The
very sparrows seemed to jitter aloud "Cheep cheep-cheepl"
as if Heil-Hitlering too. One of them, flying above our
car, with an upward flirt of his tail, dropped a swift salute
on the fresh-polished radiator hood.

"God damned bastard," muttered the chauffeur.

"Heil Hitler!" "Honk honk-hoakl" "Cheep cheep-
cheepl"

We were off, to save the world's civilization, by realizing
at last the superior Nordic ideal.

But. . . . What was that murderous Reichswehr cap-
tain doing in von Arnheim's car, closer and closer to the
Leader every day? And who was this strange Herr Klass,
with the Talmud nose, backed into the darkest part of
the seat beside him?

The Leader laid his hand on my lap. "Little Adolf," he
said softly, "it was in Munich that I first found the Ger-
man world. It was in Munich that I founded the Party,
and started Germany on her rehabilitation as the greatest
power in the world. It is fitting that it is in Munich that

OF ADOLF HITLER 327

we go now to complete the achievement of the dream of
the German soul. Heil Hitler!"

"But naturally, my Leader," I said. "Heil Hitler!"

"Honk honk-hoakV

"Cheep cheep-cheepl"

And so we started out.

3*8

THE STRANGE DEATH

CHAPTER XXIV

DEATH IN MUNICH

THERE were nine of us who sat down to dinner in the
royal suite of the Continental that night. I had
understood that we were all to have eaten at the Braune
Haus. No, that was for the rank and file; not for the inner
group that ran Germany and the world. There was the
Leader; five of the Ministers, Goring, Goebbels, von Rib-
ben trop, von Arnheim, and Hess; myself; and in addition
von Arnheim's new aide, Captain von Wulle, and
Bruckner, the Leader's devoted Adjutant.

Schaub was detailed to duty in the kitchen, where the
dinner was being prepared; there were of course also Black-
shirts here, there, everywhere. But just as we were waiting
for the Leader himself to appear, Schaub signalled me aside
to his room, and closed the door. "Come out, Trudy," he
demanded, his voice chuckling.

Out stepped an utterly demoralizing blonde beauty,
laughing-eyed, giggling. "Wicked one," she laughed.

"Look what / captured, Zeit! "Would you believe that
the Leader's special chef tonight is married to all this
prettiness!" He sat on the bed and pulled her down on his
lap. "Ach, can't you duck the first few courses and enjoy
this as an appetizer?"

He rolled her over face down, and bunched up her

OF ADOLF HITLER

3*9

skirts. Evidently he had already reached much of an under-
standing with her. "The naughty little bitch wanted to
postpone me until tomorrow morning!"

If anything could have tempted me, that vision would.
There is nothing so beautiful in the world, I have ob-
served, as the rump of a German woman. It is the rump
of the cow, I have observed, that is the object of major
interest to the bull; and to the stallion it is the rump of
the mare, and so with all animals. Never was to me so
poignant the inconvenience of being the double to a man
blind to such obvious beauty.

He gave to each rear cheek a loving pop with his strong
hand, and rolled her over. "Well, you say what?"

"Ach, if I can, later! Save her for me. But I would be
sent to the People's Tribunal if I was not on hand in my
seat for the soup. Auf wiedersehen, you lucky bastard!"
She was burrowing into his neck, and giggling invitingly
at me. I gave her one kiss, as he held her, and hurried
back to the dining room.

They were sitting down, as I entered. The Leader's face,
I noticed, shone brilliantly, triumphantly; gone was the
worry that had seamed it for weeks. "Friends," he lifted
his glass of water, "to the German will — a world all Nordic
— mankind's highest achievement!"

We lifted our glasses and toasted it so. But I hoped for
wine later, and maybe brandy. There was always Erik's
coat, with the handy flasks.

"When you snap your fingers, they come," said Goring,
with a huge belch, as he applied himself to the soup.

"A packed court, too, as should be," smiled Goebbels
evilly. "Chamberlain and Daladier — they want nothing,
but to be re-elected because they have prevented war.

33o THE STRANGE DEATH

They would gladly give us Poland, the Ukraine, to win
the next election. Ugh! But you, Herr Hitler, and II Duce.
... So long as the representatives of the democracies hold
their hands up in the air, you two do not mind what they
say!"

"Only you, my Leader," smiled von Arnheim carefully,
leaning over as if he were shielding the Leader. "The
Italian capon still crows; but the eggs are all laid in your
nest."

"It is my fourth meeting with the Modern Caesar."
The Leader sipped his soup with finikin relish. "One of
these days he will learn that each Augustus had his Caesars
beneath him, no? My fourth meeting. . . . Four was
always lucky to me. I was born in April, the fourth month.
I am the fourth of the great conquerors — Alexander,
Caesar, Napoleon, myself. Berlin is my fourth home:
Branau, Vienna, Munich, and now the world capital.
This is our fourth acquisition: the Saar, the Rhineland
fortifications, Ostmark, the Sudeten. This is the fourth
word on the Sudeten: Karlsbad, Berchtesgaden, Godesberg,
and now Munich. Yes, four is always lucky with me."

"He is a happy Caesar to glow in the shadow of so great
an Augustus," said von Arnheim delicately.

"Chamberlain I like," said the Leader frankly. "He
boasts of being a respectable tradesman. A tradesman
always sees reason, when he observes a sword. Daladier I
have never seen. I have a lesson for him later; I have heard
that he repeats with gusto the insult of Marshal Foch, that
the only way to achieve French dominance would be to
castrate thirty million Germans.* I do not like such vulgar
jokes. He is the sort of leader, in a democracy, whose first

* The Leader's error for 20,000,000, the figure Foch give.

OF ADOLF HITLER 331

ministry lasted only four days! He thinks he looks like
Napoleon; and they call him the Bull!"

Von Arnheim smiled. "In the United States, bull has
the colloquial meaning of bull-pudding."

"That is more correct," smiled the Leader.

"I suggest ox, for the modern degenerate Frenchman,"
said Goring.

"This is such a small beginning," smiled Hitler, almost
to himself. "Yet a necessary one. Even the Democracies
must approve of the theory of the plebiscite. Clearly, what
is left of Czechoslovakia is a Vienna sausage squeezed in
the center; it disfigures the map, and we will cure that.
The Ukraine has wheat and oil, power and cotton; and
that we will get by degrees, and have something to say
to Stalin at the end, no? To make Europe all Nazi will
be slow; but it will come. First to make the Black Sea a
German lake, no? Then it will be time enough to do the
little things. . . . Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, so close to
Konigsberg; Switzerland, which by then will be ready for
a plebiscite; the Polish Corridor, and statehood for Poland
soon after; and then, the three little kingdoms occupying
our shores on the German Ocean, increasingly ready for
absorption. What an immense saving, when all these need
no fortifications against us, but only the widening ring
against France, against Russia, against . . ." But he did
not end it. He smiled craftily, and we all nodded gravely.

"Europe must be all Nazi," he said firmly. "It is our
mission. We will not fail." By now the waiters had re-
moved the soup plates, and brought in the next course.
The Leader's omelet, done to that perfection which only
a Bavarian cook can achieve, was placed before him first.
He sniffed the aroma with delight. "Like Czechoslovakia,"

332 THE STRANGE DEATH

lie equipped himself with knife and fork, and studied the
viand with a little twinkle in his eyes, "I shall carve it up.
Only some of that mongrel land will be served to Hungary
and Poland soon, to hold in trust for us; and all of this
will be gobbled up by myself! Yours is not overdone?"
with a careful scrutiny of Marshall Goring's huger dish.

"Mostly air," sniffed the huge general. "But it is done to
perfection. Not so much to get a man's teeth in," he
grumbled, with a heavy wink, "but full of vitamins, min-
eral salts, and rooster glands, no doubt. Mushrooms, hein,
and pimientos — Ach, and a little cheese! It's filling, God
be thanked."

"Barbarian," the Leader smiled, chewing each portion
of his own omelet carefully. "Sometimes I think that
you're still in the cannibal stage."

"Sooner or later, it may be necessary. But we still absorb
the Ukraine before that, no? Or can I have a war for
that yet?"

"Tomorrow, we open the door," said the Leader. But I
noticed a strange thing, that there were beads of sweat on
his forehead, like beads of water on beams in damp cellars.
And he was moving his jaws much more slowly than usual,
as if each movement was difficult to finish. But he stuck
at it doggedly. Then he looked up, and saw my eyes fixed
so on his face. ""We had a long ride today, Little Adolf,"
he said apologetically.

"Car-sick, no?" asked Goebbels, with a sour little
snicker. "They moved like planes. Ach, those new roads
are superb! Soon no country in the world has roads like
ours!"

Meticulously the Leader laid his knife and his fork on

OF ADOLF HITLER 333

the rim of his plate. "One moment, I go to the bath-
room — "

He tried to rise from his seat, and he was almost
straightened up, but with his features scrunched up and
his eyes so narrowed they had disappeared. Then with
startling suddenness he slumped back on his chair. "Ach,"
he half groaned.

Goring was deep in the violation of his great dish, which
he was shoveling up as if into a bottomless pit. Ribbentrop
was toying daintily with his omelet. Goebbels seemed with-
drawn, as if listening to the words rather than bothering
with the food; as if trying to see what words and deeds
must come after these. Von Arnheim and I alone seemed to
show a genuine interest in the Leader.

"Can I get anything?" I asked, my face whitening.

"You're not feeling too well? Perhaps — " Von Arn-
heim's face was all solicitude.

"My stomach — " The Leader kept his control magnifi-
cently, in spite of the sharp sudden spasms of pain that
twitched across his face. " — Disordered. — Nothing." He
tried again to rise. " — Indigestion," he half sobbed it out.
"Damn! — Acute. Get Doctor — " His eyes closed, his body
began sliding down off the chair seat under the table.

"He's not well," snapped Goebbels suddenly, belatedly
pulled back to what was happening. "Send for Dr.
Anton!"

Von Arnheim rose swiftly. So, I noticed, did Captain
von Wulle, as if eager to be of service before his chief
spoke. "Bruckner," said Erik sharply, "go to the door, and
send Schaub on the run for Dr. Anton. The Leader and
Herr Zeit are both indisposed." He made each word very
clear. I looked astounded; I felt all right. But he continued,

334 THE STRANGE DEATH

in complete charge of the situation. "Stand in the hall,
then, and let no one in. Absolutely no one. It is no doubt
nothing. Don't let anyone know that either of them is so
tired out. Everything is all right. Heil Hitler!"

The huge Adjutant, happiest when obeying commands,
saluted with a swift "Heil Hitler!" and passed out of the
door. Luckily, Schaub had returned to his post, for I heard
the order transferred, and his heavy feet running down
the hall.

"Bellyache," laughed Goring, in a huge rumble. "Such
belly-bilge as omelets, instead of a man's food, makes me
feel sickish too. Lay him on the couch," noticing the
Leader's blank strained face.

"Friends," he spoke. But his voice died away in a
mumble.

Four of us got him to the couch, loosened his coat, his
tie, his shirt. But this was incredible, on the eve of our
greatest victory over all Europe, all the world!

"/ feel all right," I reassured von Arnheim.

He pierced me with a look. "This is poison, I am afraid.
Tell him to hurry that Doctor, Zeit, for God's sake! No,"
with a sudden reversal, "Sigmund, you tell him."

"Then send Schaub in to me" said Goebbels vindictively
to von Arnheim 's aide.

"No," said Erik curtly. "Not till we know, Herr
Minister."

Goebbels shrugged with ugly grace. "As you will."

Here was Dr. Anton, and another doctor behind him;
and in a moment he had taken entire charge. We stood
by with troubled faces. "What an absurd interruption to
our plans! I remembered how sick it had made me, the
time I got poisoned by mistake for him; how could to-

OF ADOLF HITLER 33 j

morrow's business be done, if there was to be such a sick-
ness now? Unless, of course, they'd call on me again; after
all, the way things were, it did not seem they could keep
Germany running without me. And I wrinkled my nose
in deeper disgust. I had not forgotten the blonde Trudy
that Schaub had captured, and I had been scheming how
I could manage an hour with her, when this dinner was
over. And now this had to come to spoil even that!

They all stood between me and the Leader now, and all
I could hear was his heavy stertorous breathing. The other
doctor threaded through them somehow, went to the door,
and came back. In a few moments, two more doctors had
arrived. It was a stomach pump, I was sure, that one of
them was carrying.

"Organic," I heard one doctor say. "Instantaneous,
practically." Only words drifted through the huddle of
men bending over the suffering man.

"The emetic won't work. Sacrament! — Nerves para-
lyzed."

"Try this hot saline. — Slowly. . . ."
"There must be a purge. — Castor oil is best."
"Here's the brandy."

— For the Leader! A good thing he was unconscious,
or he would have never let them hear the end of this. It
fermented the food in the stomach, he always said.

"Got that oxygen tank? Hurry please!"

I could hear his groans now, so low, so heartrendingly
hideous. It was not like a man, it was like an animal dying.
That was all a man was, I thought suddenly: animal in
the way he was made, in the way he was born, animal
much of his life, all animal in his dying. And I myself
groaned. "When we took every precaution against such a

THE STRANGE DEATH

thing happening, how was it possible that it could happen,
in Munich of all places? And at a time like this! Well, I
threw back my shoulders, and began to prepare the way
I would greet these three men, Daladier the stranger,
Chamberlain whom I had given orders to three times,
Mussolini who was learning to take orders now. I was
sure I could do it in a way that would earn even higher
praise from him than he had ever given me. "My good
friends, the problem is simple. We are quite willing to let
Czechoslovakia reorganize, provided. . . ." Aha, there was
where I would say it!

"More air for him, there!"

I looked up swiftly. The others moved away from
where the Leader lay. I could see now that his face looked
like the face of a dead man, putty-colored, almost blue,
except for those horrible pleading eyes, still alive, still
begging for release from the pain tearing him to pieces.
Well, / had been poisoned; I knew what it was like. I felt
really sorry for him. And then I had had no double to
take my place, those weary three weeks in the hospital;
he was a lot luckier than I.

Dr. Anton came over and joined the clot of Cabinet
Ministers. I moved closer. "It's an organic poison, yes — we
have no idea what. But we should bring him around.
Damned shame to spoil your dinner so, gentlemen."

"Omelet," sneered Goring. "I go out and get myself
some sauerbraten with potato pancakes, no! And beer,
plenty of beer."

Von Arnheim looked inquiringly at Goebbels. "For us,
too, brandy?"

Goebbels' limp was more noticeable than usual, as he
thumped over to the door and gave the order. "Let me get

OF ADOLF HITLER 337

Schaub," he demanded truculently. "I'll put every damned
bastard in the hotel under arrest! Every damned bastard in
Munich!"

"This may be more serious," said von Arnheim tensely.
"We do not want to advertise this, no?"

"He's right," said Ribbentrop fretfully. "God, at a time
like this, of all times, with all Europe arriving tomorrow!"

"Lightning hits," grunted Goring. "Once is too often."

The brandy came, and it released the tongues of all of
us. The doctors were huddled more than before over the
gasping body of the Leader. Ribbentrop lit a cigarette.
The rest of us followed his example.

"He's been going it at a high pace for a long time," said
Goebbels slowly. "I have urged more rest on him. — Mas-
sages! But, no, so much was to be done. . . ."

"Resistance weakened, eh?" asked Ribbentrop. "Yes,
nature takes its toll. Everything he has to do himself!"

"But he has the stamina of an ox," said von Arnheim.
"He can do things no other living man can. — Endur-
ance."

"Doctors are a xot of fools," grunted Goring, with an
ill-favored look at Goebbels— "The Doctor," to most of
us. "Why don't they fix him up? Holy Christ, don't the
bastards realize that this is the Leader!"

Goebbels hand arced wide, slowly. "One body, like the
rest of us. One brain. One heart. When it stops. . . ." He
stared at the wall.

"If he dies," suggested Goring. Only he would have
dared say it.

"Well, he won't — he can't," said Ribbentrop violently.
"What would we do?"

Captain von Wulle, who had stood silently on the out-

33»

THE STRANGE DEATH

skirts of the group across from me, looked straight at
me with his burning blue eyes, and with his left hand
lifted his brandy glass slightly toward me.

It was then for the first time that I knew that the
Leader was going to die. And then I did feel sick at the
stomach. I felt it would have been easier if it was I who
had taken the poison.

"He won't," said Goebbels aggressively. "It is unthink-
able."

Von Arnheim's eyebrows lifted. But he said nothing.

Dr. Anton came toward us, his narrow face channelled
with worry. "Gentlemen, he's sinking."

"Do something," said little Goebbels, almost in agony]
himself now. "For God's sake, it's the Leader!"

"He's a man, too," the Doctor shook his head. "If there
were anything else we could do ..."

We moved our feet so quietly, until all of us were
ringed around the couch, but not as close as before. His
cheeks had fallen in, his face was more clearly blue now.

His lips were moving, now. Goebbels suddenly leaned
forward with terrible intensity, his ear close to the dying
man's lips. But we knew the word he was forming before
Goebbels told us.

"Geli," Goebbels whispered, his face incredulous.

Convulsive shudders, oh so faint, passed like sudden
shadows over his sunken face now.

Goebbels kept his ear close. He raised his face at last.
"Mutter!" he whispered. "He calls his mother!"

The Leader's head seemed to fall back, as if it were no
longer connected with his body. His hands fell wide, one
sliding off until it almost touched the floor.

Dr. Anton knelt above him, his ear at the Leader's heart.

OF ADOLF HITLER 339

He rose to his feet without a word, he removed his glasses,
pulled out a clean handkerchief, and polished them indus-
triously. He held them up to the light and polished them
again. Only then did he put them on again. "'Well, gentle-
men," he said quietly, "he is dead."

g 4 <S THE STRANGE DEATH

CHAPTER XXV

I AM THE RESURRECTION

MUCH clicked and slotted in the brains of every man
in that room, as the doctor spoke those five words.
Later on each one of them told me what were his thoughts,
at that black moment for the Party, for Germany, for
Europe, for the world. But then, I could know only what
I was thinking: and it was grief, great and ovemhelming
grief, grief for myself and this tragic blow to my pros-
pects in life; for now my job was over, and what work
could I do next? What other work was I suitable for?
What could I turn to, in the interim? I recalled what Cap-
tain von Wulle had said, about Hollywood, in unsympa-
thetic America. Look with what insults they had there
greeted Leni Reifenstahl, when she arrived there! And
noble young Vittorio Mussolini, fresh from his imperial
conquests in Ethiopia! No, that did not seem promising.
If they decided to do all the other Grimm's fairy tales
before they got around to Herr Hitler, I might indeed
starve to death first. No, my job was over; and I could not
imagine what work I could do next. Unless, of course,
in the espionage. There there was a chance. After all,
Goebbels had used me, he might be willing to use me still,
and it was work that I felt I was especially fitted for.
"Germany dies too," said Goebbels dismally.

OF ADOLF HITLER

341

"Ach yes? Not with me left!" said Goring ferociously.

"Not with any of us left," said Reichsminister Hess
sadly. "We live out his will, as he would have wished."
Hess had been his beloved disciple; yet too mild to be more
than a willing worker.

"Not with him left," said Erik von Arnheim, his index
finger picking me out and seeming to transfix me against
the wall, like a specimen moth pinned. "What else is there
to do? We must have the Leader for the conference to-
morrow, no? They will listen to him, and him only. It
cannot be otherwise. Well, what is Little Adolf for!"

"But he can't masquerade for a dead man!" said Rib-
bentrop, crossing himself. "How could he!"

"Who is dead, after all?" purred von Arnheim, raising;
his eyebrows. "Do you gentlemen see, now, why I told
Bruckner that Little Adolf — Herr Ludwig Zeit — was ill,
as well as the Leader? Little Adolf dies; the Leader lives
on. What else is there for us to do?"

"Ach, I will not stand for it!" said Goring fiercely.
"We will have the Party elect a new President, a new
Chancellor! And my Reichswehr will keep order, and my
Blackshirts!"

Goebbels looked up sharply, and so did all of us, at that
possessive my that he had used twice. But Goebbels spoke
first. "Ach yes you will, Field Marshal." His twisted little
face blazed. "No man in Germany will be permitted to
spoil the conference tomorrow. Later on, if you wish, when
it is timely, we may announce what we please. — Kill off
Little Adolf, with my full permission. But not with the
conference tomorrow! Who but the Leader among us
could now make all Europe do as we wish?"

"If we'd only started the war," said Goring bull-

342 THE STRANGE DEATH

headedly. "By God, I'd defy the world, then, no matter
who died! Maybe that would be better! Look, we're all
mobilized; we call off the conference — call it off this
moment. By God, we are in the Sudeten by dawn, and you
think the democracies would stand in our way then?
They're too paralyzed to act. Sure, keep Little Adolf as
the Leader, then — he can review the troops, he can have
his picture in all the papers — but give us a war! This is a
sign from heaven!"

For a moment, I could see that they were almost per-
suaded, even the doctors. But Goebbels shook a decided
head. "When we can get it all without a war, why waste
our energies? The war comes soon enough. Each day we are
stronger, and the rest of the world weaker. No, gentle-
men, Herr Zeit is dead, Herr Hitler lives! I call on each
of you in this room — "

It was my hour to speak, at last. "No," I flung with
sudden violence at them. "I could not do it! I would not
know what to do, to say! They would be too much for
me! "While he was alive, yes; but I won't, I won't, I
won't, now! I can't, gentlemen! You must see that!"

Von Arnheim's head nodded swiftly, and Captain von
Willie was beside me at once, his pistol out, boring into
my ribs. "It is either that," he said quietly, "or I shoot
you now."

" — As a conspirator," said von Arnheim suddenly.
" — Attempt on the Leader's life. We'll make out, some-
how. Decide!"

I knew that he was bluffing; I sensed already how skil-
fully he had schemed. But that pistol was not bluffing.
"Oh," I moaned. "If I only could! It is much harder work

OF ADOLF HITLER 343

— and what is the pay you have been paying me? Gentle-
men, I've got to be sure — you'll all stand by me?"

"With pistols out," said Erik, giving me no friendly
look.

"Little Adolf — and this is the last time I will call you
that," said Goebbels suavely, "you are the greatest actor
in Germany, no? You, yourself, know it too. You have
lived with the Leader for five years and more, until you
can in a moment be more Herr Hitler than he was him-
self. You speak as he speaks, think as he thinks, are him.
It will be the easiest thing in the world. Each day you
merely take his place for one day only. Forget what hap-
pened tonight; no one will ever know. He will inspire
you. We will counsel you. The world needs his name, his
face, his words, his thoughts. You have all these. — The
greatest actor in Germany, in the world 1 You will do this,
for the sake of the Party, Germany, the world! Heil
Hitler!"

Nothing could have won me but his appreciation of my
skill as an actor. Naturally, that I was extremely proud of.
I stood pale and erect. One by one their arms sloped up-
ward and forward in the salute. One by one the words
rolled out from each of them, "Heil Hitler!"

Automatically I gave the response: "Heil Hitler!"

"Gentlemen," said Goebbels swiftly, including the awed
doctors now also in his darting, vulture glance, "I call on
each of you in this room to raise his hand to the German
God, and to all other gods, and to swear on his sacred
word of honor that no word of what has happened in this
room shall ever be revealed to the world — not before
death, and not after it! If any break his word, each of the
rest of us pledges his soul to take personal vengeance by

344

THE STRANGE DEATH

death on the recreant promise-breaker, at once! Do you
swear this oath?"

"I swear," said Erik von Arnheim firmly.

One by one the others gave the oath. I, only, they did
not ask to swear; no doubt Goebbels forgot I was now
more than a mere double.

I walked over and stared down at the face of the dead
Leader. "Ludwig Zeit," I said quietly, "was a faithful
servant to me and the Fatherland, and it is a great pity
that he has had to give his life to save me yet again. Carry
him out. Announce, not that there has been poison, but
an attack of acute indigestion." So I rose to the emergency
magnificently.

" — And a weak heart," prompted Goebbels.

I nodded. " — Superinduced by a heart constitutionally
weak. These have caused the death of this faithful body-
guard. In spite of this shadow over our dinner, gentlemen,
we will regard it as a happy augury. The Party does not
die; the Reich does not die; the German world can never
die. Heil Hitler!"

Goebbels made a bit of a wry face, and Goring was
quite sulky; but each of them gave the response.

"Tell Bruckner, Adolf," ordered Goebbels. I shivered a
trifle; I was sure that it was the first time he had ever
used that first name. Evidently he had wanted to use it;
he used it quickly enough, now.

I wheeled, and started for the door, before I remem-
bered my wig, the wax in my nostrils. Von Arnheim, and
then Goebbels, lifted hands toward me, as if to restrain
me; but I had remembered first, and had the wig off, the
wax out, in a moment. Goring, with a strained look,
reached for the Leader's worn dogwhip. He looked me over

OF ADOLF HITLER

345

from head to foot, and cracked it viciously once toward
me. Then he handed it to me. My flesh crawled at the cruel
sound. Yet it was mine, from now on.

I lifted my eyebrows inquiringly. They all nodded satis-
faction. Captain von Wulle opened the door for me.
"Bruckner," I called him in, my face lined, my voice heavy
— though how I kept it from wavering I still do not know
— and spoke to him: "What has happened in this room is
entirely confidential; it must never get out. Zeit's had a
heart attack. He's dead."

"Ach, the poor boy! — Poison?" His eyes glittered
savagely.

"Thank God, no. Acute indigestion, weak heart; that
is all. The body will be taken out secretly. Friends," I
turned to the Cabinet Ministers, "if you'll come into my
study. . . ."

"Sauerbraten" grumbled Goring. But he too came.

I walked ahead, as the Leader would have done. As the
Leader did; I must never again forget that I was the
Leader, from now on.

It was a wild session we had, lasting nearly all night.
All that Hitler was to have said had been written down,
luckily for me. Ribbentrop, von Arnheim, Goebbels, all
had copies of it. In a few minutes we had the Gestapo
heads in, and enough given out about Ludwig Zeit's omelet
to cut off half a dozen heads. And then we turned to the
conference for tomorrow.

It was agreed, of course, that we would stand on the
Godesberg memorandum, and demand that we enter the
Sudeten by Saturday; and that by then the Czech troops
be gone, to the last one of them. Daladier, a memorandum
said, was to suggest a mere occupation of Asch and Eger,

34^ THE STRANGE DEATH

and the rest by easy stages; with Italian, French, and
English troops occupying the plebiscite areas. And I knew
our answer to that, to yield a little and demand a lot. I
knew it all so well already — I had been present at every
conference where our course was decided upon. And I
had even his words to say, written by himself. But they
made me go over it again and again, until I was wearied
out, and so were they.

By now, though, all this coaching, drilling, preparation
was all unnecessary. I had recalled what my uncle at
Niirnberg had taught me so carefully: Opportunity
knocks once only, and it is wise then to open the door.
Admit that a natural humility had made me at first a
trifle reluctant to undertake this tremendous assignment
for the Fatherland, that humility was gone, now, like dew
vanished before the sun. I knew that I could do the task
as I, the Leader, should do it; better than even he himself
could have done it. There was nothing more to be said.

The Munich conference is history. How proudly I
walked beside II Duce over the cobbled streets, rather sorry
that he was an inch or more short of being quite a man;
and wondering if indeed it was not one of his doubles
walking beside me. Ciano came just behind us, as gay as
a university boy, and Goring had on a fixed simper that
should have let everyone know that things were at least
not going to his liking. It seemed strange to have men
representing a whole country without uniforms on; yet
such was the troubled little Frenchman, growing bald,
with the ridiculous remnants of his hair pulled down
toward his nose; and the harassed old English merchant,
still bundling along his umbrella.

Five hours and a half, and it was all ended. Even Cham-

OF ADOLF HITLER 347

berlain in this time I easily instructed to sign a brief two-
power treaty of eternal amity with me, substituting con-
sultation for war. Thus danger of attack from our rear
was largely averted — for increasingly France grows too
weak in man-power to annoy us; and we could turn more
freely to our destiny to the east.

I attended the funeral of poor Ludwig Zeit. I had not
been allowed to take part in the erection and dedication
of the tombstone to Maximilian Bauer, more than five
years before; but this was a state occasion, as befitted
one of the most loyal of my bodyguard.

I myself spoke at the funeral. I held up the life of
Ludwig Zeit as an object-lesson to every German. He had
played his humble part, I pointed out, in lifting Germany
from a mere 60,000,000 that we had been left by the
iniquitous Versailles Treaty, to the 78,700,000 and more
Germans now in the Reich. There was only one real power
left in Europe, our magnificent ally Italy. France and
England could no longer be regarded as first class powers;
although the loose backing England's overseas dominions
gave her kept her from being entirely negligible in world
affairs still.

It was a symbol of resurgent Germany, I pointed out,
that the death of this faithful son of the Reich on the very
eve of the Munich Pact had not slowed down our progress
in the slightest, in this the greatest year of German
achievement. For this was the year of the Anschluss, when
my native Austria returned unanimously to its Father-
land; and the year of the reclamation of the oppressed
millions of Germans in the Sudeten. More than this, the
Jew in Middle Europe was being increasingly shown that
his homeland was Palestine, and it was time for him to go

348 THE STRANGE DEATH

home. — They laughed hilariously at this; even a funeral
can evoke a good hearty laugh in Germany. — Had not
the one Jew in the Irish Parliament, Robert Briscoe, said
that half of the Jews in Europe might be described as
surplus — that is, Jews whose immediate removal would
improve the condition of those remaining? We agreed with
this M. P., I said, except that we included the other half
in the surplus also.

And then my voice grew stern. Throughout the Reich
now these poisonous toads, these parasites on superior
races, were forbidden increasingly to enter in any of the
businesses and trades. Jewish doctors were forbidden to
occupy rented premises, or live in flats with windows on
any main street. The state schools and universities were
sealed against the Talmud spawn, and naturally no Aryan
was to be permitted to run the risk of contamination by
working in a Jewish household, even though he starved
for lack of employment. And every Jew must be badged
by being named Sarah or Israel, and all Jews hereafter
must have only such swine-names as we permitted them
to have. Moreover, we had closed down the Catholic
schools in Austria, those hotbeds of homosexual corrup-
tion, and Protestants were being increasingly taught that
the Reich came first, and the German God second, and no
alien god must be considered at all. To all of this, Ludwig
Zeit had bravely contributed his all. Heil Hitler!

Captain von Wulle had been named my aide, though
not by me. He and Erik von Arnheim rode back to the
Chancellery with me.

"You gave him a nice send-ofF," said Erik amiably.

"After our cooperation," said von "Willie firmly.

OF ADOLF HITLER 349

"The doctors were baffled," I suggested mildly. I was
naturally all curiosity to know more.

"Our acquaintance Moritz Klass, when he had to leave
Germany because he was no Aryan, decided to go to Peru.
He is a PhJD. in Chemistry, of course. He investigated
certain organic poisons used by the Indians, that have no
antidote. He could tell you more about it," Captain von
Wulle smiled austerely, "if unfortunately he did not have
to proceed straight through to the Swiss border. He is a
man without a homeland. But he told me that he had a
little debt to pay in Germany, and I imagine he did not
forget to pay it."

"A Jew!" I gasped. "Why, he was in your car!"

"Naturally, as soon as we found out that he was not an
Aryan, we permitted him to depart. At Munich, that was,"
said the captain. "It seems the Jews pay their debts, too."

"I never told you, Herr Hitler," von Arnheim addressed
me softly, "that, when I was confined in Brandenburg,
I made my appeal to the Leader himself. He told me it
was his will that Goebbels held me there. I pay my debts,
too."

"I am a Catholic," said Captain von "Wulle firmly. "I
have seen the Bible publicly burned in Nazi Germany.
I pay my debts too."

"This seems to be an age of debt-paying in Germany,"
I said. I toyed with the worn dogwhip I always carried
now. It did not restore my ease of mind.

"Perhaps you have one little debt you will not forget,"
said Erik quietly. "You were Ulrica's friend to the last,
yes, and I am always grateful for that. As for the Jews,
I am a German; and I know the Party's attitude, and
Germany's attitude. I thank God I am not one of the

35Q THE STRANGE DEATH

circumcized. But, Herr Hitler," he stared at me directly,
"there are five of us who compose your camarilla, your
inner cabinet, from now on — is it not so? Hess we can
forget. Goring the berserk elephant, Goebbels the sly evil-
plotter, Ribbentrop the diplomat, and we two. You will
not forget that we are two; and that we two spoke what
was finally decided, which accounts for your being where
you are."

I was quite moved by his appreciation of what I had
done for Ulrica. "I will remember my debts, my friend,
and pay them."

"This will call for a reminder, from time to time," he
said, smiling in a cold fashion that was not quite com-
fortable. "But I am sure that a faint reminder will be
enough."

I thought suddenly of a picture I had seen of five lions
tugging at the five corners of a prey they had pulled
down. It was not a reassuring thought, at just that
moment.

OF ADOLF HITLER

35i

CHAPTER XXVI

"LITTLE MAN, WHAT NOW?"

I NEED not have been nervous about the success of my
performance; since there was no reason for anyone
to suspect anything, no one did suspect anything. My
task resolved itself down to listening carefully while my
five advisers made up my mind; and then announcing
this to the Reich. On October 4th I was driven to Karls-
bad, in the third Sudeten zone just that day occupied,
and here I spoke to my new fellow countrymen, telling
them of Germany's high ideal of more and more oppres-
sions of the Jews. The next day, in Berlin, it was decided
I was to announce to the world that this Christmas would
be a festival of peace. And I renamed the Siegfried Line,
dedicated public works, and in general orated through
the Reich. But all of these were on peaceful occasions, and
they were not filling to the German soul.

And then, in Paris, November 7th, occurred just what
we had been waiting for. We had a third secretary at the
embassy there named Ernst vom Rath, who had been
invalided home from Calcutta with tropical fever, non-
venereal. Luckily for us, a seventeen-year-old German-
Jewish emigrant living in Poland, named Herschel
Grynszpan, decided to avenge the persecutions of his race
by making for himself a Nordic martyr; and by chance
this vom Rath got the bullet.

352 THE STRANGE DEATH

The moment word of it came to the Chancellery, the
six of us went into excited executive conference about it.
"Friends," I made it clear, "it is a shot at the entire Ger-
man people! This Grynszpan should be denounced
throughout the Reich, and ultimately have his head
chopped off!"

"Denounced!" sneered Goring! "Castrated, drawn and
quartered, if I lay hands on him. But we have Jews nearer
home it is easier to hit, Herr Hitler!"

Von Arnheim shook his head. "If you wear 'em all out
with mistreatment, they might actually leave, all of 'em;
and who could we mistreat then?"

"If vom Rath dies," shouted Goring, "we jump on all
the Jews in the Reich! It's either that, or my men jump
on me!"

A bitter row developed. Goebbels sided with Goring;
Ribbentrop was more moderate, saying our foreign policy
would be shot to hell by any further oppressions; and von
Arnheim and von Wulle saw no need for monthly
pogroms. I tried to reconcile these ideas; all I got for my
pains was to be called imbecile, nitwit, superannuated ham
actor.

"But J have the army!" sneered Goring finally. "Watch
me!"

"And I have the propaganda," jeered Goebbels. "Watch
me!"

"And I have a headache," I said mournfully. "Please to
excuse me, to take two tablets of Nordic aspirin. Heil
Hitler!"

Well, vom Rath died; and I was allowed to read in the
Party press all that happened. It was the most orderly
rioting in history, done with complete German efficiency.

OF ADOLF HITLER 3J3

The Brownshirts were most aggressive, the Blackshirts
often helping. Every Jewish shop was wrecked, and the
goods looted; and the Jews were then fined for this. The
synagogues were all burned and the Jews fined for this.
Jewish men so tactless as to be on the streets had their
teeth knocked out, or were dumped in the river, pneu-
monia often resulting. Others were merely beaten until
they died. Of the tens of thousands put in concentration
camps, thousands died, and their ashes were usually mailed
home to their families, without explanations. Jewish boys
and girls were beaten and abused by the patriotic Hitler
Youth. Von Arnheim himself told me what happened in
Moritz Klass's house. They found him away. They broke all
the china and pictures, made a bonfire of the books, cut
the carpet into strips, and then beat Frau Klass all over
the body with their fists, finally holding her down on the
floor and kicking her and walking on her. She was of
course confined to her bed after this. As a rule, the women
were not molested in public.

On November 12th we officially stopped the rioting,
and decreed justice against those at fault. That is, we fined
the Jews 1,000,000,000 marks, and required them at once
to repair the damage done by wrecking, looting and arson
on shops, homes and synagogues. In addition, we forbade
Jews to engage in retail and other businesses, and an-
nounced that all Jewish property in the Reich must be
transferred to Nordic hands, in return for annuity bonds.
It was agreed among us that something would be done
about these bonds, to make sure they never matured.

The most inexplicable feature of this example of Nordic
justice was a series of uncalled-for comments made by
President Roosevelt of the United States. The whims of a

354

THE STRANGE DEATH

democracy are unpredictable; except that as a rule they
never have a whim to fight. Much more vital was Goeb-
bels' discovery that Jews still owned 60% of Berlin real
estate; and that, in spite of our five years' campaign,
they owned proportionately four and a half times as much
wealth as Aryans. Well, at least we could all set to work
at once to reverse this inequality. The very next day, we
affixed a 20% capital tax on all Jewish property, to be
paid in cash. In an emergency like this, Nordic justice
must not falter!

So far, all the rounds in the free-for-all that the cabinet
meetings had become had gone to Goebbels and Goring.
On the morning of December 22, von Arnheim was shown
into the Chancellery very early. "Heil Hitler! Good morn-
ing, Herr Reichskanzler," he greeted me. "What! Herr
Goebbels has not limped around yet?"

I frowned at the unfriendliness. "Do you expect him
so early?"

He chuckled. "To be frank, no. I imagine it will be
some weeks before he bids you good morning, now!"

"Why, Erik, what do you mean!"

His face grew sterner. "Part of it's ancient history, by
now. You remember the 'libel,' as you called it, just as we
were marching into the Sudeten, Gustav Frohlich chal-
lenged the Reichsminister for Propaganda to a duel."

"It was a libel! Goebbels himself told me so."

"Well, libel or not, the ground stated was that Herr
Goebbels had been too insistent upon having an affair
with lovely Lida Baarova, Frohlich's wife. It was then that
the famous cinema actor vanished mysteriously — concen-
tration camp, my information is, for subversive utterances.
It was then that Frau Goebbels talked first of divorce."

OF ADOLF HITLER 355

"No," I worried aloud, "it must have been a libel. I
assured Frau Goebbels so, and forbade a divorce."

"But last night," von Arnheim snickered, "Goebbels
apparently decided to discuss the affair more intimately
with Baarova in her apartment; in bed, I'm told. Anyway,
enough of Frohlich's friends appeared to give him a
thorough horsewhipping, blacken one eye, and knock out
a tooth!"

"Incredible!" I mourned. "Does he think the Propa-
ganda Department means Propaganda for himself, maybe?
Besides, what an example to Germany! If they can horse-
whip him, why not me, or you?"

His face grew harsher. "I recall Herta Fuchs, and
Konrad in camp. We shall see, we shall see. And this time,
I think there will be enough publicity, from Melbourne
to San Francisco, to make Herr Goebbels* technique of
propaganda a bit embarrassing to the government, no?"

I recalled the matter of Ulrica, and decided it was not
wise to go into the matter further. "But he always makes
his New Year's speech, Erik!"

"Use the record of last year's speech," he sneered. "It
will be all you can use, this year."

I had begun to realize that the victory was not always
to the winner of the first round. The more I investigated
the case, the more it stank. Goebbels had first forced Froh-
lich to divorce the lovely Gitta Alpar, the Hungarian
star of all Europe, because her father was a rabbi. That, of
course, was the Nordic thing to do; but it gave less reason
for this story tying up Goebbels with the lovely Aryan
second wife of our romantic cinema star.

Yet as before, I was most saddened by the emphasis the
story received in the press of the United States and the

35$ THE STRANGE DEATH

other democracies. Is it to be conceived that the German
papers would even run a story stating that Vice-President
Garner had had Franchot Tone put in protective custody
in Alcatraz, while he consoled Joan Crawford in the
Senate Chambers; or that Reichsminister for Foreign
Affairs Cordell Hull had had Charles Laughton interned
in Leavenworth, while he educated Elsa Lanchester in
American propaganda? Yet the papers of the democracies
gave full details, even of the black eye.

I had it announced as acute intestinal grippe, with a
fairly good chance for health again. I had a Blackshirt
guard placed around his home in Wannsee, and sent word
to him that, bandages or no bandages, I expected that
broadcast as usual. Several hundreds of loyal Germans sent
him a Twelfth Night present of a tooth, later, to replace
the one he had lost. Your German is your natural friend
in need.

I had one talk with the bandaged Reichsminister, and
as well as I could understand his mumbles, he indicated
contrition and convalescence. Naturally, I informed Frau
Goebbels that divorce was unthinkable. To distract
attention from this regrettable intestinal grippe of the
Propagandaminister, I spoke to the Sudeten Germans at
Reichenberg. I told them proudly that the future of the
Nazi government and the world were safe, since the new
generation was growing up, never to be free again in their
entire lives, and happy at the prospect. From birth to
death, I reminded them, one lesson would be drilled into
the next generation: the excellence of National Socialism.
"Let the misguided English boast 'Britons never shall bd
slaves' — a democracy can look no higher than that. We

OF ADOLF HITLER

357

Germans lift the holier cry, 'Germans never shall be free!
Germans shall be slaves forever!' Heil Hitler!"

But this did not solve our problem about the Propa-
gandaminister. I talked it over first with Erik von Arn-
heim. "You're rather proud of yourself for stirring up
this mess about Goebbels, aren't you?"

He shrugged. "There was a man who turned down my
plea for release, even for a hearing, when I was thrown
in Brandenburg Prison. "Well, he is dead. There was a man
who carried his love-poaching until it fouled my own
wife's sister, Herta. "Well, he is pretty well publicized for
his tastes, isn't he? And, since our government must stand
for the purity of the home. . . ."

We assembled what was left of the little cabinet.

"Make him Minister of Education," suggested von Rib-
bentrop. "He can't do much harm there."

"No," chuckled Goring. "Then you don't know that
slimy snake! Can't you see him corrupting all the little
school girls, and making the girl graduates come to him in
person to get his diplomas? Far better it is to put him in
charge of the Berlin Zoo. I am not so sensitive about what
propaganda he conveys to the Frail Rhinoceros and the
Fraulein Giraffe. In fact, can we think of anything more
admirable than to have him in bed with a Frau Porcu-
pine?"

But this was hardly constructive. "We finally tentatively
scheduled him as over-governor for Berlin, which would
let Goring register a definite rise as Vice-Chancellor.

More and more I was irked by the way the rest of them
treated me. More and more they refused to let me say
a word. "Shut up, nitwit," was von Arnheim's usual
courtesy toward me. "Enough from you," was von

358

THE STRANGE DEATH

Wulle's. "Give us a vacation," was Ribbentrop's; while
Goring, in his milder moments, would say, "You God
damned little shrimp, you impotent little Bavarian bastard,
if you open your yap again I'll knock all your teeth down
your throat, no? Speak when you're spoken to; and
damned little of it then!"

So it was that my mind was made up for me; and, the
moment we walked out of the door, I was again the in-
spired Leader, the divine Redeemer of the Reich. It was
mentally unsettling a little.

I had my own doubles now, three first, and then four.
Some of the newspaper stories were very bewildering; for
some of these doubles could not resist the temptation to
speak, when they were hailed as Leader, even into the
microphone. There was one particular time when I was
speaking at a Horst Wessel commemoration, and one
young double had been allowed to return to Vienna, where
he had a wife or the equivalent. The non-Party papers
reported with much detail that I had been seen in a leading
cafe, drinking huge steins of beer, smoking, feeding brat-
wurst to a dachshund, and with a female strip dancer on
my knee. The Party press pointed out how each detail of
this story was obviously a fabrication: since the Leader
did not drink, or smoke, or have a dachshund, and had
never sat with a female strip dancer on his knee. But it
gave Germany a more composite picture of me than so far
it had had; and I do not think it liked me less for the
picture.

It was harder now to get a smoke. I was in the public
eye too much; and nobody considered my feelings any
more. The Little Cabinet absolutely forbade my altering
any of the Leader's divine eccentricities. But at night, I

OF ADOLF HITLER 359

used to collect the cigarette butts in the ashtrays, and the
delicious cigar butts; and several times, when I was lucky,
I managed to swipe a package from the coat of one of the
guards. It was harder now to get a drink. But I bribed
one of the Blackshirts to help me out in this, and had a
bottle of brandy always hidden.

It was hardest of all to get a woman. And my general
condition got rottener and rottener, with this absurd con-
tinence. What were women for, and what was I as the
Leader for, if I was supposed to act like a human glacier?

One late afternoon I had very marvelous luck. I was
staying late at the Chancellery, alone; everybody had gone
off, and one double was reviewing troops for me, another
was speaking on a European hookup; God knows what the
rest were doing. It was then that a scrubwoman came in
to scrub the floor of my inner study.

I had seen her face, and there is no use to speak of it.
Even her husband, who was a porter emptying the spit-
toons, had found himself a window-washer as a mistress.
But it was not her face I saw now. She was on the floor,
her backside to me, diligently scrubbing. I looked at her
suddenly, and I saw her rump. I will admit that the sight
made me excited. With me, I have observed, to desire is to
act. I did not speak to her, for I did not desire to interrupt
her duties. I merely lifted her skirts, and, as she moved
about the floor, I achieved my desires. I gave her a ten-
mark note at the end.

She may have said something, for they had a man to
scrub the study thereafter. At least, I was permitted to
make a magnificent address on The Revolution in Private
Life — the movement started by the Sturmabteilung Mann,
and taken up by the Party press. Hereafter immature boys,

3 £o THE STRANGE DEATH

until they were eighteen, were not to smoke or drink; and
immature girls, up to twenty-one, were to abstain simi-
larly. And when I came to the matter of personal purity,
I was very pleased at the headlines in the Party press:

GERMAN MEN, GIVE YOUR MISTRESSES TO YOUR
FATHERLAND!

The Leader Pleads That All Little Do-Nothings Be Put to
Motherhood or Productive Labor

At least, we might as well make the discomfort general.

OF ADOLF HITLER

CHAPTER XXVn

THE SKY GROWS DARKER YET

THERE were many minor annoyances, during the
winter of 1938-1939, in addition to my difficulty in
getting cigarettes and brandy, and the practical impossi-
bility of escaping the universal observation enough to
manage an evening with some girl or woman.

I must admit that the Propagandaminister, once he
recovered from his acute intestinal grippe — for that re-
mains the official report, and is the history of the future
— and emerged from his bandages at last, gave us such a
tightly locked censorship that the world for the first time
knew only of Germany what we would have it know;
and, better yet, that the Germans were told only what
was good for them. This was especially to be valued, be-
cause of the alarming increase in the number of attempts
to kill me.

The more I studied these, the more I realized that they
were the most unreasonable and unjust things in the world.
There could be no criticism of the government and the
Leader, except on sentimental and humanitarian grounds;
whereas science has established that such grounds are as
absurd, to intelligent men, as would be an effort to
organize sorrow for the cattle necessarily slaughtered to
provide beef, or the swine that must be killed to furnish

3 $2 THE STRANGE DEATH

us with pork, ham and bacon. Hitler had never done one
act that was not for the greater glory of Germany; and
neither had I, since I became Hitler. So there was no just
ground for resentment, and hence should be none.

Naturally, our folkic movements had been directed
against Catholics, Protestants, and Jews, instead of against
cattle and swine. But the principle was the same. Assum-
ing that cattle could shoot and throw bombs, and that
swine could conspire to shoot or use poison, we would have
a parallel case. Yet how unthinkable that they should
ever rise against butchering mankind, since it is for beef
and pork they exist! The same reasoning made it unthink-
able that there should be continued restiveness on the part
of Catholics, Protestants, and especially the Jewish swine;
it all pointed to an obstinate unwillingness to accept the
direction of the Leader.

It was precisely from these groups that the attempts on
my life came. Luckily, the day I was to dedicate Albert
Speer's magnificent new Chancellery Building on the Voss
Strasse — impossible weather drove us into the Sports Palace
for the ceremonies, of course — I sent one of my doubles
to deliver the brief speech. It was a minor speech, and he
had finished it before the shot came from the balcony
that barely missed him, and pierced the heart of the nearest
Blackshirt guard. In my great public appearance for the
review along the Hermann Goring Strasse, it was a bomb,
that luckily killed only half a dozen of the spectators, and
none of my guards even; and again it was a double im-
personating me here. Goring said it was clearly the open
season for Fiihrers, and he'd like to be appointed Warden,
and limit each hunter's bag strictly; but I thought this
was not in good taste. The swine were too clever to be

OF ADOLF HITLER

3*3

apprehended in any of these attacks. But we, for our part,
were clever enough to sponge the incidents out entirely,
so that not only the world, but the entire German nation,
were properly led to believe that every German loved the
Leader with his full soul's passion. Propaganda, as I wrote
in Mein Kampf, properly applied, can make a people accept
a hell on earth as a heaven; and regard a heaven as a hell.

There were minor things that troubled me too. I had to
change valets, and that is always an annoyance. I recall
that day in January when my valet said to me, while he
was dressing my hair, "My Leader's dandruff has gone
entirely!"

This I had overlooked. Herr Hitler always had a coat
collar foul with dandruff. I shrugged: "One application
of a new remedy Dr. Anton suggested ended it forever."

He nodded. And then he spoke too casually. "I did Herr
Zeit's hair a few times. It had no dandruff. It was very like
your hair, Herr Hitler."

I reported this to von Arnheim. We had him in a con-
centration camp the next day, and a new valet installed.
Loose talk damages.

One morning, I noted on my schedule of the day's
activities an interview with Frau Fuchs set for four o'clock.
For a moment, I did not identify her as Herta, Ulrica's
lovely sister, who had treated me so shabbily when I tried
to prove myself a real friend to her. But immediately I
was sure it must be the same Frau Fuchs, for this audience
had been arranged through von Arnheim. I imagined he
had given it through some devilish streak of perversity,
some desire to thwart Goebbels still further. I decided that
they were all so unfriendly, I would not play the game of
any against another.

3^4

THE STRANGE DEATH

And, this time, I was to be Herr Hitler to her!

The interview might be amusing. Very cleverly I
assigned one of my doubles to take the next two engage-
ments, leaving me free practically until six.

But I did not then dream of all that that interview
might bring out.

She was dressed exquisitely, in a way to accentuate her
body, for all that her face was now very sad. She gave the
"Heil Hitler!" mechanically, drew herself up right across
the desk from me, and began her prepared story. There
was no blame to Goebbels in the story, as she told it; for
reasons of state, her husband had been interned in a camp.
But it was all a mistake; he was no traitor, he had never
breathed a subversive word or harbored a treacherous
thought. And the Propaganda Minister was too busy with
other matters to give the case the proper attention; was
it not possible that I, as the fountainhead of all German
justice, would do something?

How utterly amusing to reflect that, the last time, she
had told me every detail of her surrender!

And then I showed that marvelous knowledge of the
welfare and even the daily lives of all of my subjects that
is the highest test of a monarch's greatness. "I have indeed
heard of your case, Frau Fuchs," I said. My face grew
sterner. "I have heard also certain scandalous libels about
the Reichsminister for Propaganda, akin to the stories cur-
rent just before last Christmas, dealing likewise with him
and Lida Baarova. I will be glad to interest myself in your
case, but only if you will be entirely frank with me. Was
there any foundation for such stories?"

Her face studied me dispassionately. She made up her
mind. "Yes."

OF ADOLF HITLER 3«j

My eyes widened. "But this is a serious matter against
the Minister's impartiality and administration! You mean
that he actually offered to exchange consideration for your
husband, in return for your surrender to him?"

"Yes."

"But surely you did not make this surrender! Surely you
never gave the usance of your body to any man, except
your beloved husband!"

"These things are outside of your life," she said bitterly.
"I was given a simple choice: either the People's Tribunal,
and death, for Konrad, at once; or • . . the other. I
saved his life. I'm proud of it, too! But all promises made
to me have been broken; they are torturing him still, they
will kill him. "What can I do? Is there no justice in Ger-
many anywhere?"

"Germany is the home of justice," I said impressively.
"But you are proud of the surrender you made, to save
his life, ach no? You would proudly do it again, if you
had to?"

"God, I suppose so; when you love a person. But the
promises were all broken — "

"Ah, but if, this time, they were made by a man who
does not break promises; if, for instance, I were to pledge
you my word I would set him free?"

Her face went like ashes. "You! You — But you are
just making talk! You cannot mean it. Such things are not
said of you! Why, you never have — "

"But if you would, Herta ..." I clenched her hand in
mine, I could not help it, and drew her closer. "I'll turn
him loose tomorrow, this night, if you'll only show a little
gratitude, a little friendliness, to me in advance! If
only—"

3 66 THE STRANGE DEATH

"Ach God in heaven!" It was a loud penetrating scream,
as she threw her two hands below her cheeks, pressing
them upward frantically, while her great lovely eyes stared
at me in black horror. "I know you now! You're that Herr
Zeit — Ludwig Zeit — you were Ulrica's friend — You're
masquerading for him! But they said you were dead — they
buried you! Ach, keep away — "

When a man wants a woman, a mere "No" is irrele-
vant. I was around the desk, hands pleading with her, and
voice too, to be quiet, to listen to reason, to let me aid her.

Suddenly her hand lashed out, and slapped me harshly
across the lips. "You dirty swine!" she stormed. "Once be-
fore I told you not to touch me — and I wouldn't let you
touch me now, if it would save Konrad's life! No, I'm
through with that — I've told that little rat of a Goebbels
so, and now I tell it to you! Do you think no decency, no
cleanness, no real love, is left in Germany — you polluters
of everything human that your filthy hands touch! Put
me in jail too, torture me, kill me — Konrad would be
prouder of me for that, than whoring myself to you, as
you wish. Oh, damn you, damn you — "

"I am Adolf Hitler. ..." I tried to make it impressive.

There was a gleam almost maniacal in her eyes. "So,
eh? Well, either you are Herr Zeit, not dead, masquerading
as his double, while he is off attending to his other busi-
ness; or . . . God in heaven, if you are Adolf Hitler,
then you've killed the real one, and taken his place! God,
I'll tell this to the world, if it's the last thing I do! I am
sent in to Hitler, the great Leader, the dirty swine — and
he makes his vile proposal to me, to prostitute myself to
him, as I have done already to his Propaganda Minister,
to save my husband from further torture. . . . And I

OF ADOLF HITLER

3*7

defy you! I spit in your face, you offal, you dung of the
earth!" And, to my amazement, she leaned over and spit
in my face, pushed closely toward hers.

An experience like this is unpleasant, but there are
compensations. A woman in a rage is always a lovely
sight. I only wish that it had been the place and the oppor-
tunity to choke her until her objections quieted, and then
settle the matter as I wished. It is this that such spitfires
really demand,- and all their theatrics is merely a way of
inviting on the attentions of a real Nordic he-man.

"Now, now, Herta — "

"Listen to me, filth," she drew herself up imperially —
never say that Herta Fuchs was not a magnificent actress!
"Adolf Hitler is dead. He is bound to be. His conscience
would not let him live. No wonder he was sleepless, no
wonder he walked in his sleep, with all the ghosts of torn
and ravaged Germany, ghosts he had made, come back to
haunt him! The ones he gave his oath to, and broke his
oath, and killed — von Schleicher and the rest; his dearest
friend, to whom he broke his word forever, Ernst Roehm;
and the dreadful hundreds of others murdered in the Blood
Purge — all eternity will not be long enough for the Furies
to punish his screaming, flayed soul in, in the most hideous
agony in the lowest sub-cellar of hell! I can see now why
you are here," with utter scorn. "You're not man enough,
you're not big enough, even to sin! How could Ulrica
ever waste a moment's second thought on vile scum like
you! Nothing will ever come back to haunt you: nothing
but your futility, your ineptitude, your cheap lust, your
foul tiny arrogance. I shall — But, by God, a bargain with
you! In return for my not telling any of tins — or even
telling Erik, you dirty pimp, that you sent my sister to the

368 THE STRANGE DEATH

dirty lecherous clasp of Goebbels, that you forced her with
your lies to go, and caused her suicide — In return for my
keeping silence about all this, is Konrad to be freed at once,
and I, and both of us allowed to shake the dust of this
hideous cancer that is Germany from our feet forever and
evermore?"

My mouth still stung from her blow. One tooth had
been giving me a little trouble; her ring had hit it and it
ached dully. This was clearly no matter to be dogmatic
about. "Frau Fuchs," I said severely, "you have made a
good plea for the liberation of your husband. On the terms
you have suggested, may I call in Reichsminister von
Arnheim, and have it made clear now that he is to be freed
at once, and you and he be permitted to leave Germany,
free of all restrictions, whenever you will?"

"It's your cue," she said. "Make it snappy, too."

I lifted my hands deprecatingly. "I had to teach English
once in Nice, and I have had to translate even from that
abortion called the American language. Please, more dis-
cretion before Erik. It is promised?"

At her nod, I had him summoned, and announced my
decision. He congratulated me on the wisdom and justice
of my course, and said that he would see that the necessary
orders were issued at once.

But out of that door, I reflected sadly as she flounced
away triumphantly on Erik's arm, there went a woman's
tongue, capable of wagging loosely; and such can do more
damage than a division of the Reichswehr. I must be more
discreet in the presence of women. I recalled that the
Leader had never gotten more personal with them than to
talk of the menace of Communism in the remoter South
American countries, or the proposal to introduce camels

OF ADOLF HITLER 369

into Australia. There was wisdom in much that he did.
Goebbels had a different recipe. I wished that I knew it.
But one could not be everything.

That tooth that her ring had struck pained me more
and more, so that by nine I had to have the dentist sent
for. He came with his procession of attendants and para-
phernalia, and all was laid down, and the "Heil Hitler's!"
given and responded to. He was a huge, jovial, encouraging
man, and he chortled all over the place as he finally came
and had me point out the tooth, and tapped as if he had
stabbed me. "Ach, that's nothing — a mere gum abrasion.
We stop the pain right away — " And then he stopped
talking, and stared from my mouth to the chart of it his
assistant was holding up; his face was the face of a fish
flung high on the bank.

"Yes, this will give us no trouble," he began maunder-
ing to himself again; and soon enough the dull pain had
gone entirely, and so had the dentist and his attendants.
But I sent forthwith for von Arnheim, and told it all to
him. "He didn't say a word — he didn't give it away; but
— he knows! He knew every tooth in Hitler's head — he's
treated me too; there was the chart before him. . . ."

"You're always the nitwit," he scowled ferociously.
"Well, now I've got to talk to him; and he may find
himself incommunicado for the rest of his life, unless he
swears to me he's a damned sight stupider than I think he
is. And for Christ's sake, Adolf, hereafter, have some
brains, and use them sometimes!"

Increasingly I began to have the feeling of the fish in the
aquarium myself. And then, the last day of the month,
the French ambassador called for an audience. He wanted
a confidential talk, he said; if I could even not have Herr

37°

THE STRANGE DEATH

Reichsminister Ribbentrop present. So it was arranged. I
always enjoyed any excuse to avoid the presence of the
members of my small cabinet, who called me too often too
many low names in private for me to enjoy their company
anymore.

It was a long and earnest discussion about the Italian
claims against France that he introduced, and I listened
with keen interest. Whenever the conversation demanded
it, I made Germany's position clear: whatever Italy wanted
of course Italy should have; whatever France didn't wish
to give up should be left to my arbitration.

He was a very erudite man, and to establish one of his
points he quoted first Verlaine, and then an apothegm of
Anatole France's, and finally a bit of Poincare, capped off
with something Remy de Gourmont says in the Physiology
of Love. In the old days I had translated two of these into
German for publication, and was familiar with all of
them; and I neatly turned each quotation with another as
apt from the same or some related source. — A very erudite
man; for he switched into one of Kipling's more imperial-
istic poems, quoting its chorus; and then repeated a whole
paragraph from Haldane's Daedalus, always one of my
favorite pseudo-scientific fantasies. I gave him the parallel
passage from Bertrand Russell's Icarus, and realized in-
creasingly what a charming companion he was to talk to.

And then, his voice unchanged, his eyebrows lifted ever
so slightly, he said, "Herr Reichskanzler, you will recall
that so late as last September you knew no French, and
you knew no English. And now you speak both fluently,
and are familiar with their latest and brightest prose and
poetry, and can quote both. Colossal!"

I shivered; why had Goebbels never warned me to con-

OF ADOLF HITLER

37i

ceal most that I knew, to be more like Hitler! "Ach, I
have picked up a word here and there — "

His lips crinkled ever so faintly. "One more word pick
up, then: this . . . From now on, I remember your high
opinion of our authors, Excellency, and the English authors
as well. When we come to you again with France's
demands against Italy, or any other demands we make,
you will listen! Do you hear me? Do you understand?"

His voice had become absolutely nasty. I do not think
that is the proper way to conduct a diplomatic discussion.
I think threats should have no place in such discussions.
Just the way the Leader himself had talked to Schussnigg,
Benes and the rest; merely do so and so; never need of a
threat. But I saw his point, and I nodded gravely. "I will
always consider carefully all you have to say," I agreed.

"All France has to say — and it will be much! I don't
quite understand what you've done. . . . Although your
double from Passau, Herr Reichskanzler — that chap Bauer
that was buried as Zeit — had been a teacher of languages,
interpreter, and translator. Keep your little game up as
long as you please; but word of this goes to the Foreign
Office in Paris, and we will expect and receive more con-
sideration hereafter! Is that understood?"

"I am beginning to see merit in all that you say," I
shivered a little as I spoke. "I am sure we will be better
friends, from now on."

He rose to his feet, staring down at me. "Heil Hitler,"
he said. "Now you say Heil France!"

"Well, just between us," I agreed. "Heil France!"

"Sacred blue," he said. "Good day."

372

THE STRANGE DEATH

CHAPTER XXVin

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

I DECIDED to write this memorandum of my life with
Adolf Hitler and my life as Adolf Hitler, the day
that Albert Speer exhibited to us his great design for the
tomb of Adolf Hitler. "You see, my Leader, I wanted you
to approve every detail of this greatest of all mausoleums
ever built by man, years in advance of the event itself.
So Cheops and the other great pyramid-builders built their
own tombs in person; and they still last. The tomb of
Lenin in Red Square is nothing, compared to this!" He
went into the last grisly details, too — the corpse to be
preserved by eternal mummification, absolutely lifelike;
the wax replicas that would rise and give the salute and
the actual hail at moments vital to Germany's history; the
group of six young doubles, altered every few years, who
would give the salute unceasingly, in rehvs, day and night.

I think Goebbels took a waspish delight in my discom-
fort observing it; I know Goring grumbled out we might
as well get it going, from the amount of free shooting that
was going on around the Chancellery these days. But none
of them, I think, knew the reason for my discomfort: and
that was, that this was all Hitler, and no Maximilian
Bauer. I had gotten sick of the work, of the vile way the
small cabinet spoke to me, of the pointless dangers, of

OF ADOLF HITLER

373

the increasing suffering to others my words and actions
caused. Maximilian Bauer had not taken on this work to
have his name vilified down all history, or forgotten either;
it was for me to see that he was remembered as himself,
as the greatest actor of his age, as a magnificent ruler if
he had been allowed to rule, as a true son of the Father-
land. And so that night I started writing down this
memorandum.

As the statement grew, one major problem troubled me:
what was I to do with this all-important document, once I
had finished with it? I might conceal it while writing it,
but the risk would be increasingly great thereafter, as long
as it stayed in Germany, where nothing is sacred, and
privacy is unknown. I had no friend to trust it with, in
Germany or out; I had no friend in all the world, for I
had surrendered being a man worthy of friends, to become
the impersonator of a man all reviled and hated, except
the starving millions. Yet out of Germany it must go. I
recalled that Karl Ernst had sent his letter about the
Reichstag fire to London. Yet I knew no one there. I could
not even trust the French ambassador; for reasons of state
he might decide to suppress the document, in return for
favors from the Reich. There was no one I knew I could
trust. . . .

And so I decided to trust some one I did not know, and
had seen only once. In May, 191 2, my beloved mistress
Clothilde Simon had borne a son that I was the father
of; Michel Simon, who grew into a handsome, intelligent
child, as I discovered on the one occasion when I later
saw him. He would be twenty-six, now, and a man. I
must rush to completion this document, and send it by
confidential courier from the border to him in Nice. His

374 THE STRANGE DEATH

mother could tell him for what cause he should be inter-
ested in doing this favor for me — preserving this statement
until my death, and then letting the world know it.

But first, I must find out if he was still alive, and
flourishing. I had the espionage report on him two days
later. He was a sub-manager for the Compagnie Trans-
atlantique at Nice, and was said to be a youth of exemplary
habits. Voild, my problem was solved! And I applied
myself with more courage to finishing this statement, and
have reached this far.

I have never been able to understand most of Mein
Kampf. It may be that it has the inspired quality of the
Koran or Science and Health; to me at least it shares their
unintelligibility, which I am told establishes that it is in-
spired. One thing that interested me most about it is that
in it he quotes from only one poet; and that poet the great
Nordic Shakespeare; and each time the same line, "To
be or not to be." He first uses it about the German Social
Democrats, describing suicide as the solution chosen by a
weak nature. Later he uses it of the German nation, more
to mean existence than suicide. Yet suicide, as a theme,
always preoccupied him. After the Beer Hall Putsch, it is
said he would have committed suicide, but that he was
brought back to willingness to live by Putzi HanfstaengPs
sister. In the tense ten years when he was Adolf Legalite,
he threatened it so often that he gave the party leaders
the jitters, wondering what they would do if he carried
out his threat. After I became connected with him, he
continued to threaten it. If his regime ever collapsed, by a
coup d'etat or an armed uprising, he had his revolver ever
handy to blow out his brains. He had Bruckner, Schaub
and poor Julius Schreck bound in a suicide pact, to kill

OF ADOLF HITLER 37 j

themselves at once if anything ever happened to the
Leader. He brooded over the suicides of the jews. To me
he has called them lucky; and, when eight thousand of
them committed suicide in one day, he said to me, "So, it
is to Jews we give our autumn honors!"

And now, I was the Leader; I was Adolf Hitler, and
there was no other Adolf Hitler beside me. And I was
miserable, deprived of all ordinary human comforts —
smoking, drinking, normal living with a woman. I was
increasingly under the nervous fear of being assassinated,
for these attempts increased more and more, and it became
harder and harder to conceal them. Five cabinet ministers
and three doctors knew every detail of the substitution;
I was at their mercy, until death. More and more were
learning of it: my valet, my dentist, Herta Fuchs and her
husband, the French ambassador and his Foreign Office,
and, when he chose, all Europe, the whole world! Let us
deny as much as we pleased, if once they spoke, the world
at least would believe. And I was hated, hated, hated . . .
hated by all the Jews for what Hitler had done to them
and what I must still do in his name, hated by all the
Catholics, the Protestants, the Communists, the republi-
cans, the monarchists, the real Austrians, the Sudeten
Germans who believed in self-government, even the mass
of the German people, lashed with the slave-whip to shriek
out a terrorized affection for me none of them felt. I was
Adolf Hitler, and there was no resignation: there was only
assassination, or suicide.

If the Leader had thought suicide wise, I had a thousand
more reasons to think it wise! If he had been willing to
end his life, time and again, should I be coward enough to
flinch?

i7 6 THE STRANGE DEATH

Hardest of all to bear were the meetings of the little
cabinet, marked increasingly by a flood of insults and
vilifications that seared my soul. Goebbels was back in the
group, now, a little more bitter and evil than ever; he
was making me and the world pay for the horsewhipping
he had received. But the others were as bitter toward me;
and I came to understand why. In public, each had to
humble himself before me as the Leader; very well, in
private, the bitter envy, the deep hatred, the festering
sense of inferiority in their hearts toward me burst out in
all its insulting virulence.

Once they had said that I thought like the Leader, as
well as spoke like him; now they denied that I could think
at all. All that I had to say was either lies, or injustices.
I remember the bitter session over the speech I was to make
on the map of Europe ten years from now. Goring, Goeb-
bels and Ribbentrop had evidently formed a bloc before
the conference assembled, and I was helpless. "We must
promise Italy what she wants," insisted Goring. "The
Mediterranean an Italian lake — "

"But what of Spain, France, Yugoslavia, Albania,
Greece, Turkey, Palestine, Egypt — "

"Your business is to talk, not to think. It was so from
the time of Pompey on, you told me, Doctor?" Goebbels
nodded, beady-eyed. "Good. And, by voluntary absorp-
tion, the Black Sea a German lake, and the German Ocean
and the Baltic increasingly lakes of the Reich!"

"You have omitted the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Indian
and the Arctic oceans," I suggested mildly.

"You should be caned for your imbecility," snapped
Goring. "One of these days I do it, too."

"That's the Field Marshal's speech," said Goebbels tartly.

OF ADOLF HITLER 377

"For me, announce a second capital levy of 20% of all
Jewish-owned property, payable in cash, in forty-eight
hours. All who fail to pay are subversive, and of course
must be sterilized; they, however, to pay the surgeons.
Put Pastor Wilhelm Niemoeller in jail with his brother;
stop the salaries of all Protestant pastors who continue to
read from the Jewish Bible. We are considering taking over
both Catholic and Protestant churches as a State church,
with Nazi cardinals and bishops, answerable only to the
government. By fall, we should run the church as
efficiently as the Postoffice Department."

Von Arnheim nodded, when he had finished. "In the
matter of Justice, I had decrees for you to sign, condemn-
ing to the ax Niekisch, Drechsel and Kroeger, whom the
Tribunal condemned merely to imprisonment. Their mild
sentences are known to the world now, as an example of
German mercy; now we teach the Germans the more
important lesson of discipline."

I shivered. "You told me they were innocent!"

"But, good God, can't you understand that the purpose
of punishment is example, so what difference can inno-
cence make?"

"He will never understand," sneered Goebbels. "Oh, and
make a radio speech, on the Revolution in Private Life,
describing the Lambeth Walk as poisonous Jewish propa-
ganda and lascivious animalistic hopping. We must never
let up on any manifestation of this poisonous international
conspiracy." He beamed smugly.

"Oh, I'll make the speech," I said glumly. "But why
must I spend all my time robbing the Jews, and stealing
Catholic property, and imprisoning the Protestants, and
condemning innocent people to death, and lying about the

378

THE STRANGE DEATH

amount of our armament and food — I haven't been
allowed coffee in two weeks, and you know there is a daily
allowance of an ounce a day — " I stretched forth a plead-
ing hand to them. "Can't you ever give me anything else
to do? It's not that I mind any of these, so much; I'm paid
to do them; but a man does like a little variety now and
then!"

"In a democracy, variety; in a totalitarian state, no
variety," said Goring gruffly. "Less and less you know
daily. If you are interested, I had your coffee ration shifted
to my account. Coffee is a luxury; harden yourself, Adolf,
like a true German!"

Little vulture-faced Goebbels sat back, and spoke with
sudden bitterness. "You and your variety! Damn it, Adolf,
when are you going to realize what the Nazi movement
really is — and has been from the beginning? Do you think
we are gentlemen? Do you think we are legalists, parlia-
mentarians, orderly law-abiding citizens? And where
would the movement have gotten, if we had been! We are
thugs! Is that clear to your cracked cranium? We are
rowdies, brawlers, gangsters, if you insist! We found out
that we had to be, at the Coburg meeting back in 1922;
we have never altered one moment since. Everything we
have done was illegal; we brawled our way to power, and
we have been giving Germany and Europe a gangster
regime ever since. Why must I repeat the obvious? Will
you never learn? In the Middle Ages, they robbed the Jews
and the wealthy in retail robbery; we have made it whole-
sale, that's all. Jews. Catholics. Protestants. Capitalists.
Industrialists. Bankers. Anybody else with money. We
wanted Austria. The Austrian Germans were aristocrats,
and didn't knpw they wanted the Anschluss; all right, we
took it. The Sudeten Germans were contented. But we

OF ADOLF HITLER 379

wanted it; so we've got it. The Polish Corridor, the whole
Ukraine — we want 'em; we'll take 'em. We want France
— France annihilated. It's in Mem Kampf; do you remem-
ber nothing? All right, in 1924 I saw French white officers
stand by and applaud their African troopers raping Nordic
German women, when they tried to steal the Ruhr. But
they were a democracy; they couldn't hold it. What we
take, we keep! Don't you know these things yet?"

I tried feebly to speak. "I thought — "

"Ach, do you know what Adolf Hitler would have said
to me, if I talked to him the way I talk to you? Christ
bedamned! He would have called me a filthy pusillani-
mous half-hearted chicken-livered leprous whoreson pimp-
ing son of a bastard Jew and a mongrel sow; and
he'd have said it so eloquently, I'd have believed it! He
was a man; you . . . Oh, God, I want to vomit, when I
think of your castrate's soul, your eunuch's ambition, your
incredible remnants of sentimental and romantic decency
and honor! For the last time I tell you, we are thugs,
brawlers, rowdies, gangsters, and proud of it! We have
improved the former code of thieves in one respect: we
have eliminated honor. Now, we've got the Corridor, the
Ukraine, no? We've turned on France and joined it to the
Reich as the twentieth German State — unless we tempo-
rarily make it a mandate first. We force all Europe except
Italy into a Pan-Nordic Reich — let Italy think she has the
damned Mediterranean, till we are ready! Remember, in
1914, she was Judas enough; we will remember it, at the
right time. Now for God's sake, for once and for all, get
these things straight, and never again will we have to
lesson you in them! Is that clear? Is there anything that
isn't clear?"

38o

THE STRANGE DEATH

"Just one little thing," I pleaded. "I have to live so
unnatural, I am so lonely; could I have a woman some-
times?"

"Always selfish! All right, half an hour a week.
No more; Hitler needed much less. The conference is
adjourned!"

I do not enjoy these daily conferences any more. Talk
of statecraft and the superior Nordic ideal give me a daily
headache. Never before did I hear of a revolution won by
brawlers and gangsters, much less of a government con-
ducted so. And there are private audiences I will not go
into details about: as when Herta Fuchs brought in her
husband, just released from prison, and a man released
with him. This man turned out to be a Jewish World
War veteran now unfriendly to the government. I shall
omit this Jew's complaints as to what had happened to
his parents, his business, his children, his wife even, who
had died of what Brownshirts did to her during a Party
Day celebration. It is enough that Konrad held me while
this Jew did to me what they do to Jews in the concen-
tration camps. I could see more clearly thereafter why
Jews do not prefer Germany as it is today.

And I have found out what is wrong, finally. I am an
actor, yes; the greatest actor in Germany, in the world.
Any appearance for Adolf Hitler I do superbly, for looks,
words, intonations, gestures, facial expressions, even the
soul of the man. But, when a play is over, the corpses get
up and walk off the stage and have dinner and their drink-
ing and women, after the curtain goes down. It is not so,
in Germany. The gangster never kicks a man until he is
down, I am told. But what if some day the man refuse to
lie down to be kicked? It is this which makes me shiver.

OF ADOLF HITLER

381

The ideal superior Nordic German world. . . . Gang-
sters ruling everywhere by force. . . . Thought forbid-
den, except to the gangsters. . . . Jail or worse for an
indiscreet word — I have just sent Ernst Niekisch to his
death for calling me "a German misfortune." . . . Jail or
worse for any official's whim. . . . Liberty reserved to the
head gangsters only. ... A nation boasting that it has
surrendered freedom, and is to be brought up a race of
slaves. . . . Every Jew oppressed, robbed, sterilized, mur-
dered or exiled, as far as possible. . . . The religion in the
soul of man, Catholicism, Protestantism, anything, rooted
out and tortured away, to be replaced by worship of
Germany, of me. . . . An enduring worldwide dictator-
ship of rowdy, brawling gangsters. . . . The ideal I must
enact makes me vomit, sometimes.

There is, of course, a woman, half an hour, once a
week. . . .

But the small cabinet knows the truth, and my valet,
my dentist, Herta Fuchs and her husband, the French
ambassador and his Foreign Office, and God knows how
many he has told it to. . . . The world is sure to know
soon; and can our screams of "Lie! Lie!" echo beyond our
own ravaged and self -abused land?

I have decided. Hereafter I will double for my doubles,
when there is any hope I may be shot at or poisoned. There
is always my own revolver — increasingly I have been
taking it out, when alone, and accustoming my forehead
to the cold feel of its circular steel mouth, and my soul
to a prayer for its swift coming. One day, how can I tell
when? I will press the trigger, just once. It will be good to
go to sleep, with no threat of dreams, with no chance of
awakening.

$2.50

THE STRANGE DEATH OF
ADOLF HITLER

FROM the heart of dictator-frenzied
Germany, — from the inner sanctum of the
Nazi ringleaders, comes this behind-the-
scenes spectacle of Germany's ruling circle,
answering a thousand questions which you
have wanted answered, questions which all
the newspaper, magazine and newsreel mate-
rial on the subject have left unsatisfied.
For here we have walking — talking — breath-
ing through 381 bristling pages Hitler,
Goring, Goebbels, von Roehm, von Ribben-
trop and others, so real you can almost
touch them — a picture which only a close
associate of these men cculd have drawn.

The full details of how this manuscript
came to be brought before the reading pub-
lic are embodied in the Publisher's Statement
at the beginning of THE STRANGE
DEATH OF ADOLF HITLER. And
whether or not the climax of the book will
be borne out by future records — that the
real Hitler died September 29, 1938, on the
eve of the Munich Pact, and is being im-
personated by his double — this much is cer
tain: no more convincing, complete and
constructive picture of Nazism has ever be-
fore been published. Careful and extensive
research went into checking the manuscript
with respect to the events depicted as well as
the personalities and the dialogue, and as far
as can be ascertained from accepted authori-
ties, they are all plausible.

The story is told by Maximilian Bauer.
Der Fiihrer's famous double, reputed to be
the highest salaried man in Europe. The
resemblance is startling — even to the voice,
and Herr Bauer who was permitted to stay
close to Hitler in order to learn the dictator's

{continued on back flap)

{continued from front flap)

every mannerism, proved such an apt under
study that he made several speeches in pub-
lic as Hitler, even before Der Fuhrer's death.

Close observers of the German scene today
have not failed to sense that the manner
in which the Nazi machine has been fune
tioning since Munich has been strangely al-
tered, and while they have not been able to
reach any definite conclusions about the cause
of this change, the consensus of opinion has
been that "There's something wrong in Den-
mark.'' Needless to say, with their leader
dead, his henchmen could little afford to let
such a fact become known, for readers of
THE STRANG I: DEATH OF ADOLF
HITLER will realize more sharply and clear-
ly than before just how important the strange
figure of Hitler is to the success of the Nazi
creed and aims.

Many past events in Germany come within
the realm of this story and these are told
simply and lucidly, leaving no confusion in
the mind of the reader. For the first time-
there is given a single, convincing account
of just what went on backstage when the
Reichstag Building burned, when the in-
credible Blood Purge of June 30, 1934 took
place, the rape of Austria, the theft of the
Sudeten areas of Czechoslovakia, and the
later desperate insane attack on the Jews
which shocked the conscience of the civilized
world.

The story further reveals Hitler's back-
ground and antecedents, the constant at-
tempts on his life, some of which barely
failed; the incredible attitude of the Nazis
concerning education, the position of women,
science, religion, Germany's desired position
as overlord of all other races, and, most im-
portant of all, a blueprint of the Nazi plans
for further expansion and conquest, even at
the cost of a Wo*ld War that will hurl
Western culture into permanent twilight.

MACAULAY ? Publishers • NEW YORK